Stones in the ocean

So I made a status update this afternoon about my affect on the world, and got a bit of feedback from someone who I think a lot of, Saleem (I know, I don't usually put names here, but he wanted credit, so he got it!) Basically, the argument broke down like this: I think my effect on the world is very small, and he stated that in actually it could be quite large. I think we're both probably right, but coming at it from two very different perspectives (and from two different places.)

First, let me start out by saying that I think he's right...in a way. If I may be so bold as to try and restate what he's saying (or at least how I understand it), he's taking it as though my actions could have a ripple effect. If I could brighten just three people's days today, and they brightened three each themselves tomorrow, and so on, by the end of the week we could touch the whole world. To me, that's a very positive way to look at it, and would make me feel pretty special, if I could buy in to it.

To me, it's just a different viewpoint. Allow me to try and explain it like this...it's the difference between a calm lake and the ocean. If I drop a stone in a calm lake, the ripples, however faint, will eventually reach the shore. I think that's his viewpoint, and it's a positive one. One man can reach the whole world. As my loyal readers know, however, I'm a bit more negative than that. My view is that we don't live on a lake, we live on an ocean. There are constant waves in everyone's lives, such that it would take a monumental stone for anyone to even notice.

Which brings me back to the point of the post, which isn't really about the waves at all, it's more about the stone. See, I wake up in the morning, commute to work, sit at a desk, come home, blab on facebook, write a blog post, and go to bed. That's pretty much my life. I have my son, and he has me. I have some family, and a few friends. But in the grand scheme of things, what I'm doing here isn't all that important. Maybe it shouldn't be that way, but right now, it just is. Other than my son, I just don't feel like the world would be missing much without my contributions. This isn't a pity-party, nor do I buy into the "nobody loves me" bullshit. There are certainly people whose lives would be worse off without me in it. But not drastically so, for the most part. My friends would miss me, my family would mourn me, and my son, regardless of how bad I may be fucking him up, would CERTAINLY be worse off. They'd all move on, however. It's the nature of things...things come, and they go. Nothing is forever. And we all adapt when things are gone.

I think this sounded much more negative than I meant it to be, however. The original thought behind the post was that there really shouldn't be much pressure...out of the 7 billion people in the world, there are only a handful that really matter, and even to them, it's a temporary thing. We should live our lives, be happy as much as we can, try not to do any harm, and let the rest of the world do the same. There's no harm in trying to brighten someone's day...just in case he's right. But instead of getting stressed out over things, I should realize that they're nothing...stones in the ocean. I should focus on MY pond, where the ripples CAN meet the shore...it may be temporary, and it may be small, but it's all that really matters.