The Journey of Making a Difference: Embracing Our True Purpose
Do you believe you will do something important in the future? Not exactly, but I will do whatever is needed and required, what I think is to be done. If that turns out to be special, time has to decide it. Thank you.
Shunning Recognition and Greed
Not if I can help it, since I don’t care to become a target of someone’s greed, jealousy, or ignorance. I am better suited to life in shadows.
A Misconceived Notion of Importance
I used to think that there is this very important and special purpose just for me that would make me stand out. Or rather, I wanted to believe that would perhaps be more accurate. I have since realized that I was wrong and I was right. We are all important; we are here to manifest or reveal the divine to the world and the world to the divine. And only you can do it—the exact way you can do it.
The Power of Small Acts of Presence and Kindness
I have also realized that what I thought was important isn’t really so. The world is changed through small acts of presence and kindness. During my practical for my youth work diploma, I was based at a school in a very poor area, dealing with various social problems. There was one Grade 9 boy who kept hanging around, not saying much about anything. A part of me got annoyed by this shadow, but the idealist in me won out. Over the next three months, we became friends. I treated him as an equal, let him come and go as he pleased, and enjoyed his sense of humor and slightly odd view of life.
These three months changed his life without me even being aware that I was doing something important. His parents were abusive alcoholics, and because he never had the freedom to bring friends home, he was isolated socially. Without me knowing, I was validating him as a person, just by being present to him. For the first time in his life, another human being treated him with respect and made him dare to believe that his life was worthwhile.
The Influence of Presence in Our Relationships
I still tear up when I think about him. If I had died just after that, I would have been content that I had made a difference. And right now, all of us are in relationships where just being present, just being genuinely interested, has the potential to completely change someone’s life. There is nothing that anyone can ever achieve that is more important than that.
Our true purpose lies not in grand gestures or recognitions but in the small, genuine acts of kindness and presence we offer to those around us. Embrace your journey of making a difference, and remember that the power to change lives can be found in the simplest actions.