With the new year I have looked at a lot of things in retrospect and realized that a simple change here or there really could’ve changed my entire life. The first thought I had of this was actually a few months back when I watch Ripple or something along that title. Everything that occured was a result of a previous action within a certain group of people and in the end when they all reach the realization of the actions that had occurred, they are all deeply changed (or dead.)

Well I thought the other day about some of the things in my life and if they had changed ever so slightly, live would differ greatly.

One major one I can think of has to do with high school. I had a teacher fail me a credit for Parenting none the less because I was at home with my little baby who was suffing from RSV. (Oh the irony…) Because of that one missing credit I didn’t graduate on time. Because of that one moment where she decided my reason for missing that week was not good enough I didn’t graduate and a series of events occured. I ended up taking a fourth year to make up for the credit so I would have my high school diploma. Because I had to take a fourth year I needed to find things to fill it out. Because all my friends had graduated the year before I had to make new friends and in doing so came across a class called Broadcasting.

I never took it before because my schedule was simply to full with needed courses. I applied to the teacher and he granted me entry into the grade 11 class instead of having to do grade 10 level as a fourth year. So I took the course. I loved the course. I decided to continue and do it the following semester. And that semester there were not enough students so the classes were split. We ended up with a class of grade 11’s and 12’s. It is in that class I met my husband and the rest becomes history.

Where would I be if that teacher had felt my dedication as a real parent was sufficient enough reason to give me credit for that course? Who would I be with? What would I be doing right now? I really don’t know. But her action created a ripple, a change of path in my life that landed me here.

Now imagine some one down on their luck, depressed and upset. You make their day, give them a reason to believe in the good of humanity and instead of going home that night and taking their own live, they set out a plan to help humanity, and suddenly the person who would have been dead has cured cancer, or AIDS or any other culture affecting disease. The person who changed their life created a ripple. It was only small to the person affected, but it outwardly affected so many more (such as in above example where they discover a cure.)

That my friends is the ripple effect. I am sure if you look back on your life there are moments where little things changed your life. I bet that teacher never realized that one credit would cause me not to graduate, after all what is one little credit towards the 100 needed to graduate. But her actions created a ripple in my life, the life of my only child at that point and the lives of all I have affected since that point. DO you think she even remembers that moment? I bet you not.