One Person Matters

Yes, no matter what you believe about yourself, you do matter, and what you say and do influences others as well as your own demeanor and attitude. In high school, the sponsor of the newspaper told me that I did not matter, and that one person could not influence another. How wrong she was! I may not remember her name, but I remember her words. It has taken me many, many years to realize how wrong she was. It took more than 25 years teaching in Pasco County, FL, to completely convince me. When I retired after 35 years, I felt completely validated in my belief that one person matters. With so many former students/forever friends influencing me, and vice versa, I still have hope that the world can be a more peaceful, saner, and safer world for all of us and future generations.  Working together, we can make a difference, even with so much heartache in the world, and daily occurrences of violence and destruction, in the midst of a shifting climate and uncaring individuals contributing to fires, floods, and earthquakes. One person matters so that the world can be a better place.

Though this morning's news of fires out west, the worst drought in California in a century, a non-existent cease fire in the Gaza Strip, and the report that all died on the Malaysian airplane shot out of the sky by a missile launched from the Ukraine, I kept thinking of what mattered this week:

Bowling with friends in New Port Richey, and dinner with Tim & Dean in St. Petersburg on Sunday.
Tai Chi at the library, and dinner with Lori & Vicky at Maggiano's  in Tampa.
Visiting with Denise and taking my other mother, Mater, to lunch and her doctors on Tuesday before a mediocre dinner with the fantastic Jarrells in Ozona.
Getting a second opinion on the car from friends, so that it could be fixed correctly the first time at Sun Toyota on Wednesday, going to Tai Chi at the library, and seeing a really dumb movie with the very intelligent, kind Brumblays at Westshore.
Seeing Paul at Panera's before picking up my car on Thursday, so I could be home, talking to friends on the phone before cuddling up with Michael to watch Jack Ryan save the world on DVD, complements of Redbox.
Texting with Steppy in Germany, and Jamie in Tampa, before lunching with Patricia at Mimi's, and finally cleaning the kitchen before Michael gets home from work today, Friday.

It all matters: yesterday, today, tomorrow. It's not just about me, and I do matter. You matter, too: what you say, think, do, now and tomorrow. Now, if we all matter so much, love so deeply, and care about the future, what is the matter with this world?