If not me, then who?
If I can touch just one, and that one can touch just one, and on and on and on, then maybe the world can change.
Once upon a time, I wanted to change the world. I wanted to to BE somebody. I had DREAMS (not really mine, but they sounded good at the time) and aspirations. I was going to be CIO, I was going to change the world. I was going to BE somebody.
I pretty much gave up writing for well over a decade. I did some journalling, but that usually met with some less than nice remarks because the people who read the journals didn’t really like what they read all the time. SO I even gave that up for a while.
Eventually, I realized that I don’t need to BE somebody, I AM somebody. I may only be “people like me” but that’s okay. Loving what I love is okay. I may never get to sit for a whole day (or a whole hour) watching the ocean because no one else enjoys that, but I can treasure what I treasure while I can. And I snuck back into writing.
And now, I don’t dream of changing the world. I dream of touching one, just one, with my words.
I don’t always touch someone with what I write. And sometimes I get the lamest jump of excitement when someone “likes” what I do write, but sometimes I know that I have succeeded. That at least one thing I have written has spoken to someone and has made even the smallest difference.
This morning, I went to the poetry site that I have subscribed to as a place to write. I sometimes feel kind of lame paying them $5 a month to let me post and sometimes I don’t care. I enter contests. I usually don’t even place, but I do it anyway to challenge myself. Sometimes (equally as lame as the whole “like” thing from the last paragraph) I get honorable mention and that makes my heart do a little happy dance.
This morning when I got up, I went and checked the messages and found that I had won honorable mention in three different contests. AND the person running one of the contests sent me a comment. I touched her with my words. She took the time to send me the message that my words touched her.
Today, I feel a small sense of accomplishment. I have succeeded in touching someone. I don’t have to be healthy. I don’t have to be care-free. In fact being human and understanding helps.
All I have to do is to be willing to try, willing to reach out, willing to be me.
Now… go forth (you have a connection to the world, you are reading this on the computer. TRY) and touch just one.
A Figment Of Fitness 