Far reaching in Packrat
- Dec. 8, 2016, 4:54 p.m.
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- Public
Now that my emotional dam has broken, I can’t shut up!
One of my favorites is Serin, who wrote an entry that included how someone saved his words from years ago and what that meant to her.
When we speak, do we really know how far the words go or how long they’ll last?
I said in my comment that a friend of mine had given me sage advice when we were young. He was 21, a college boy to my 17-year-old high school senior. I had a crush on him and called him Killer in my journal for his killer blue eyes (cousin M and I always gave nicknames to people, and of course his real name was written many times with much angst). A rumor started about us, and it spread quickly; I felt I needed to talk about it with him since we were friends and to let him know I didn’t start it. Killer came home from college every weekend, and I died a hundred deaths during the week I waited (I was very melodramatic, since the world revolved around me).
He said we lived in a gossip town, that he’d never think I’d start such rumors. “You and I know the truth,” he said, “and that’s all that matters.”
A simple statement of fact, but I carried that into other situations and shared with others troubled by the rumor mills. I told him so a few years ago, and he laughed, “I think we all get one wise day, and that must have been mine!”
But the issue of far-reaching words came up over the weekend.
I don’t know how it came up, but on our drive after my friend’s memorial, my mom mentioned my participation in a Chautauqua about 12 years ago. My cousin said they still hear about that. She and my counterpart were recently in Florida at a conference when a young woman approached them, very excited about what tribe they are (we’re the same tribe but there are three individual tribal governments) - because, she said, when she was a child in elementary school she had heard me speak and “her mind was blown”, causing her to rethink what she wanted to do in life! Wow! It’s amazing to think of that - that I could reach someone that way!
Last updated December 09, 2016
ConnieK ⋅ December 08, 2016
Well, I know your words have certainly resonated with me over the years and I think I copied and pasted a few of your entries when OD was going down the tubes, so I'm not surprised you've influenced others. :)
Eriu ConnieK ⋅ December 09, 2016
Wow - thank you for that. I'm honored!
NorthernSeeker ⋅ December 09, 2016
I talked to an author once about something she wrote...about how bullies need to operate in silence and they depend on silence. To disarm a bully be loud and righteous. The author was really surprised at what her words meant to me and she said that often something she said would mean something profound to someone else.
Of course I later learned that being loud about a bully doesn't help if there is systemic support for the bully. It does put things out there and gives the next victim some credibility.
Serin ⋅ December 11, 2016
I feel very honoured by the fact that people have taken my words as wisdom, but I can't think about that or it makes me self-conscious to the point of paralysis.
It's really cool you got to know of your influence of an elementary school kid.
Oswego ⋅ December 22, 2016
That is an amazing story! You happened to hear about that. Think about all the times you made a difference in someone's life and don't know. Strangers, friends -- in countless ways we influence people for the good. That is a great lesson in living -- knowing when we have received that gift from others.