Do people honestly think about how they affect others? This is something that I've been contemplating for over a few weeks now, since before Halloween. It struck me odd when a patron at the library I used to work told me that she doesn't go to that library anymore because I'm not there. I'd never thought that I could have such an affect on a person, to change their life so much! But since then, I've been watching more closely, seeing the bonds between people. Even so much as a smile can change someone's day.
How much have I affected people here, online? I see comments saying, "You're alive!" and "I missed you!" And it has affected me quite a lot, a lot more than I thought it should. I suppose for a while I gave it no thought that I could affect people online in such a manner, thinking myself nothing but just another random person.
Do you take yourselves for granted as well? I know I look forward to reading comments from each and every one of you, and find it a respite from work and bills ^.^
I think I always thought that only famous or popular people could affect people, despite in my teenage years thinking on this very matter very gravely. Our actions can even dictate the outcome of the day for other people. How many times have you seen people on the road being rude, and how has it made you feel? Or rude people in a store... I've had it happen and sometimes, it ruins my whole day.
Take for instance, this one time my parents and I were getting gas at a gas station and they were having a sale. Buy some cookies, get a hot drink for free. So mom got herself some tea and some cookies, and then the clerk had the audacity to say she was wrong, when the sign was on the door! The people in line behind her were getting upset and the clerk and her were arguing up a storm. Even to this day, the hatred I feel for such... Stupidity! is great, greater than I care to even imagine. If I have that happen again, may God help that clerk. And the thing that irks me the most out of it all is that my Mom did Not get her tea and cookies, and that makes me very mad. huh. See, just a small encounter like that can affect even the sanest of us (oh, don't worry, I'm not saying I'm sane )
It's things like that that drive men to kill. It's the little things more than the big things... Popping gum, clacking fingernails... jealousy when there's nothing there... religion, absolute faith in a false god that fails you...

Do you ever think of the teachers that were mediocre, or do you mostly remember the ones who were awesome or evil? I'm sure they all helped shape your lives. Even the plumbers and electricians, the sewer plant workers or librarians, the gardeners... Even the people you never see can affect your lives. People don't think about how they can affect other people, but they need to.

I don't like the fact that I can affect someone's life so and it irks me that I have without even noticing until it's shoved in my face. "Look what you did! You made baby kittehs cry!"
I do mean what I say, and while this pondering has affected me so, I probably won't be able to change much I've gotten pretty set in my ways over the past few years... I know we can all be pretty stupid (why limit man's intelligence, but not his stupidity?) and so I can't expect everyone to try not to be. I'm sure we all already try our best. And I don't really want people to go around all day trying to figure out how they affected someone adversely, because that could cause guilt trips or god complexes
But just something to think about.

Before I go, I should like to share with you all my childhood hero. A man of great size and worth, I practically worshiped him. I think I may have, at one point. His name (to me) was Terry Two Bears and he was a real Mountain Man. He actually still is, though I've not seen him for years. He affected my life very strongly and probably didn't even realize it. I doubt he even remembers me at all.
He was the size of two bears, and he was the best knife thrower I'd ever met. I think I thought he was the best anything I'd ever met (I was about 5 when I first met him. makes him even bigger ) and one day at the knife throwing competition, Terry Two Bears let a boy in my competition use his knives. I was upset enough at that, but when the boy won, it was because he used Two Bears' knives and I bawled. It wasn't fair at all to me. I wanted to use those knives, those magical amazing knives. That will stay with me until I die. It makes me think that gods like Zeus were childhood heroes like Two Bears... I'll probably tell my children stories about him like that ^.^
I can't even begin to name all the people who have helped me in life, who have saved my life even. Those who stopped me from doing the really stupid, permanent things. Or those who have been an example to me, of things to do, and things not to do. But I wish I could thank them all for everything.

Thank you all (especially if you made it this far ) for everything you've done for me, whether you meant it, know it, or not.
Yay for being mushy and sentimental! Seriously tho, thanks.