The impact factor

It is said that on the day of my birth, stock markets around the world crashed. The Bermuda Triangle swallowed a cruise ship, stars in distant galaxies went supernova, and entire civilizations were destroyed by the aftermath.
And by 'It is said,' I mean just now. I just said it.

Some of it, in theory, is true. But that's all just coincidence. The truth of it is that my life hasn't had all that much of an impact on the universe at large. Or, really, even the planet.


This doesn't mean I haven't changed lives. I worked with kids over nearly a dozen summers, teaching and helping thousands of people, some of whom probably even remember me. I probably impacted some of their lives.

I have friends whose lives I've impacted. One friend who took my advice and ended up with the woman of his dreams. Another who ended up with a great job. I have those sorts of things.

I teach, and presumably I have some kind of impact on the lives of my students.

None of that is real impact on the planet or on the species as a whole. At least, not measurable impact. And that's okay. I got to be a factor in something, and that's pretty cool too.

Here's what I'm trying to say: no one changes the world. Not by themselves. I don't care who you are. Hitler didn't change the world by himself. Neither did Columbus, Einstein, or even Jesus. The only thing any of them did was be a factor in something. They got to be part of a greater change.

I'm not saying this to be depressing. I'm saying this to be hopeful. I know it may not seem that way, but think about it. If we all try to measure our lives based on the impact we have made, based on the changes to the world we have brought about, we are likely to find very little. But if we look at what we do as being a factor, a cause in a long chain of cause and effect, we can see a lot more of an impact.

Ever seen It's a Wonderful Life? sure you have. In it, we see the effect one person has had on the world. But we don't see how he changed the world. We see him playing a factor in various lives, and we see how important that little factor was.

Remember that next time you see things happening in the world. Did you have something to do with it? You may have. Maybe you're the butterfly who flapped its wings in Japan and caused a thunderstorm in New York. Or maybe you're the ass hole who cut someone off, and that person went and killed a dozen people. But maybe one of those dozen people had an idea for delivering anthrax across the country without detection. Unlikely, but possible.

You can't see what impacts you have. But you can give your impacts a fighting chance by being a good person. Maybe I taught some kid about how important it is to do the right thing, even if it doesn't seem to change anything, and that kid grew up to be a police officer who refuses bribes and fights crime as best he can, keeping one or two people alive who might otherwise have died. And maybe one of those people will eventually cure some disease.

Who gets the credit? Do I?

No. the kid who came up with the cure gets the credit. All I get is to be a factor, somewhere way back in the invisible past, who helped things head in that direction.

But that's okay.