Echoes Through Eternity

In life, it is the grand gestures, the remarkable experiences, the amazing sights and sounds, and the deepest sensations, that strike us the most and are the moments that burn themselves into our minds, to become memories to be lived again, and stories to be shared.  At these times, we know that perhaps something significant occurred: the realisation or the awakening of a dream, that a shift in the direction of the path took place, a heart opened to possibility and joy of new love, or was crushed and receded in pain at the loss of an old love.  It is to these moments that we pay closest attention, looking for significance in them, seeking out their meaning and in so doing, we forget that life does not only consist of these grand moments, life, and the path on which we all walk, is made of an endless myriad of moments that are so small and seemingly ordinary, that we attach no significance to their existence.  Perhaps we do so to our detriment and peril.

Think of a drop of water.  One single drop is powerless, insignificant, it can do nothing.  Imagine the rain beginning to fall on to the side of a mountain and that first single drop that falls.  As the rain begins, other single drops hit the ground and in the beginning, nothing happens.  As other drops fall, they begin to join with the ones that fell before them and soon, a trickle of water begins. The drops keep falling, adding to the trickle that becomes a stream and the stream runs down the mountainside.  The stream begins to act on small stones and rocks, pulling them along in its water, and imperceptibly, the mountain is changed.  The rain continues and more drops fall. The stream meets another and they combine their strength, together they charge down the mountain, and at its head, our first drop of rain leads the charge. Now, larger rocks are caught in the torrent and they tumble down the mountainside.  Water flows on rock, rock hits rock, changes are made.  This torrent eventually finds a river and the river seeks out its true destiny and joins with the ocean.  One day, a huge wind blows and pushes the water in its wake, generating huge swells that become storm breakers, that crash against the shore, that smash against the land, and that alter the landscape forever.  And as the largest wave gallops in, its white waters foaming and broiling before it, that first little drop of rain that fell from the sky onto the mountainside, rides at its head and leads the charge.       

Life is like this.  Every moment of our lives has the power to echo through eternity and to alter the course of the future.  These echoes affect not only our own future, but also the futures of others, those that already exist and those that are yet to come.  I began to think on this, after a friend of mine performed an incredibly selfless and genuine act of kindness to another person.  In that moment, I could see how the lives of both people had changed significantly.  Through this deed, the courage to continue along the true path might have been gained for one of them, perhaps even, this was an act that saved a life.  The truth is, we will never know.  But what this act was, was an amazing act of kindness from one who is seeking their true path, to another who was already walking their true path, and walking that path in the face of great adversity.  The spirit in one, recognised the spirit in the other, and life brought them together.  This act is going to echo through eternity.  My friend altered the course of history, my friend changed the world with her kindness.  More than this, by acting in this way, my friend also reaffirmed her own path.  She acted because her heart told her so.  The courage of one, was met with the courage of the other, who walked across a crowded room, and in so doing, changed the course of the future.

A small, seemingly insignificant event, one tiny drop in the ocean.  And one day, that single drop will ride at the front of the charge, and the pages of history will recall its name.      

__________________________