Blog #28 - Our Endless Ripples

At the age of 21 I was a month or so into a Canadian tour. It was that point of the tour where you have to ask someone what town you're in before you go on stage because you don't want to thank the wrong one. Honestly, there were times I had no idea what province or state I was in.

We pulled up to the non descript venue and began the process of loading gear. Some kids had already begun lining up and while I was setting up our merch table, a young kid nervously asked if I had a minute. He couldn't have been more than 17 and he was clearly nervous. I said sure and we walked into a back room. He stared at his feet while he said "i just want to thank you. I've been living on the streets for a long time and your music inspired me to reconnect with my family and to quit drinking.". I was in shock. I told him that the credit is all his and that I'm glad I was able to be a positive in his life.

We chatted for a while and then parted ways. I immediately went back to the van and sobbed uncontrollably and I wasn't even sure why. I felt a little ashamed that I was so casually going through the motions despite being so blessed to be doing a job that is a dream for so many, but I also felt the weight of what I was doing for the first time.

All I did was write some punk rock songs with my best friends and go play them for people but that was the moment I realized how deeply connected we all are.

Most people know the analogy of how kindness ripples out like a rock being thrown in a pond but I don't think we stop to really think about the power that we all have to affect the world around us so let's play out a hypothetical...

If you are kind to a waitress who has had an otherwise rough day, maybe she goes home with just enough energy to spend some time with her son before bed. Maybe that son takes that opportunity to finally tell his mom about some trouble he's been having at school. Maybe talking it out with his mom gave him the courage to address it with the teacher and maybe that single moment prevented a troubled kid from acting out a school shooting in the future because he wasn't overwhelmed by unsolved problems.

We really have no idea how much power our tiny interactions have in the world. Infact, it's highly possible that the power of a small interaction can ripple on through the world forever. Of course, this means the negative also has that power. It is up to us to make the choice what kind of ripple we want to send out with every interaction we have.

Obviously, if we went about every interaction with that in mind, we'd go insane trying to create the right ripple but if we go about our day with the understanding that we have much more power than we believe, perhaps we will live our lives with a little more intention.