The impact of a single sentence

The impact of a single sentence

My Mother-in-Law’s birthday was this week. I have done several posts about her over the years. This week I am rerunning a short one that is always relevant. Social media in general and Facebook in particular have their benefits and drawbacks There is no doubt that it is way easier to reconnect with long lost friends than it used to be.   A few years ago my husband got tagged in a 6th grade class photo from his good old PS 32 in New York City. This started a flurry of conversation between people who hadn’t been in touch for many many (many) years. There is really nothing quite like an old friend who knew you when. I believe he may actually stay reconnected with some of these folks.   With all the catching up that was going on, there was a comment from a girl in his class that caught my attention. She wanted to let Sandy know that after all this time, she still thought about his mother.   It turns out that way back when, after a school performance, my mother-in-law had made a bee-line straight over to this girl just to tell her what a wonderful job she had done. It wasn’t the simple “good for you”; Elaine had told her how moved she had been and that this young lady should be very proud of the performance. Forty eight years later, this woman says that she still remembers how impacted she was by the interaction. Wow!   There are more people out there than we can count for whom a crumb of positive feedback is rare and important. Words, either kind ones or mean ones, are often put out there without much thought and the speaker moves on. This story illustrates how much a message can sometimes stick and make a profound impact. Update: I was taking a walk with Alana and I told her that I was re-running this old post. She thought it was worth mentioning that it isn’t only words that make a difference. As we walk along with our masks on, it is more important than ever to make socially distant but kind and pleasant acknowledgements to the people we pass. You never know when kind words or positive attention are exactly what someone might need to keep moving forward. Folks are so stressed right now. A nod of your head and a smile with your eyes can count. Even better is a “Hi, enjoy this lovely weather" or "Oh what a sweet doggy.” This simple interaction might be the only one that some people are getting these days. Only do this when it seems appropriate. There is no need to engage with someone who makes you feel uncomfortable.