Without Even Knowing

"I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone

across the waters to create many ripples."

Mother Teresa

If we reach out to someone, do we think of it as extending kindness or as an annoying gesture?  Do we respond with compassion or resentment?  Furthermore, how do we ever pay back those who assisted us when we were in the first chapters of our life?  Did we ever express gratitude?

I am not referring to the obvious peers, but to the slightly known person who really saw us in our time of need.  The incidental ones we may have only seen once and never again.  How do we respond after all of these years, attempting to tell them how deeply they impacted our journey in life?

When I was younger, there were characters who played miniature roles in my drama.  They were elders at the time, so they have probably transitioned on to other realms by now.  I would want them to know in the deepest part of my heart, I remember them still.  They may not have changed the world, but they changed me without even knowing.