Several months ago, I watched the documentary, I Am.

It is a deep-thinking film directed by Tom Shadyac that asks the question, “What’s wrong with the world?”  It wasn’t the first time that I had watched it, and I may have gotten even more out of it this time than when I first watched it.  I highly recommend it for those who haven’t see it.

In the end, as opposed to answering the question of what was wrong with the world, instead it discovered what was right with the world.

This is a great lesson for us in the current polarized environment that we live in today.

There is so much focus on what is wrong, when we really do need to concentrate on what is right and build from it.

Many times, we look at that task as too daunting to accomplish, but it truly isn’t.  It starts with one person.  One person making the conscious effort to make a positive difference with every single person that they interact with.

I sign every email that I send with a quote in my signature block from Jackie Robinson that simply states, “A life isn’t significant except for its impact on other lives.”  When you really break that down, it is such a simple process.  We often times get caught up in focusing on the big things, yet miss the point that all of the big things are really just made up of millions of little things.

The subtitle of my podcast is, “Many Little People in Many Little Places.”  It is derived from the opening lyrics of the song, “Gloria” by Michael Franti, which goes like this…

“When many little people in many little places. Do many little things, then the whole world changes.”

I ask all of the guests on my show the same final question, which is, “What are one of the little things that you do to make the world a little bit better place each day?”

I love hearing the answers to that question and it always helps to restore my faith in humanity.  I’ve had a wide variety of answers, but every one of them is one of the little things that makes the whole world change.

I think that we often lose sight of how powerful we can all be just by ourselves.  The power of one.  It’s easy to forget about it at times, but it truly is life changing.

Just a simple act of kindness can be so powerful on a daily basis.

A smile, holding the door for someone, just saying hello, just treating everyone as a human being.  These are all incredibly powerful acts that can make someone else’s day, week, month, year, or even life better.

When you really think that the only significance of our own lives is how we impact others, I would hope that we would all try just a little bit harder to make a positive impact on those that we interact with in our daily lives, whether friends or strangers.

That is one thing that Sandy and I have really been able to see on this crazy full-time RV journey that we’ve been on since August of 2020.  The good in others.  Yes, it has been intentional to a degree.  We’ve surrounded ourselves with like-minded people on the volunteer projects that we’ve helped with.  We’ve visited friends and family and have been completely present with them during our time together.  We’ve eliminated stress and negativity from our lives.  We understand the positive impact that spending time with so many people that we love has had on our lives.  We also understand the positive impact that a surprise visit or a planned visit can have on others as well.

We’re getting a better understanding of the power of one.  Our power of one to someone else and someone else’s power of one to us.

This is something that I’ve written about previously.  The fact that I sometimes have a very bad habit of focusing on the things that I wasn’t able to accomplish as opposed to celebrating the incredible things that I have accomplished.

Sandy and I left a very toxic political environment back in Pennsylvania.  Many times, it made it difficult for me to really appreciate what the organization that I had given my entire life to for over 30 years had accomplished.

However, there are times when I believe that one of the things that God had in store for us as we embarked on this journey is the opportunity to see the ripple effects of that work.  Sandy and I have had so many opportunities to connect with my old players.  Every time that we get to spend time with one of them is very much like a proud parent moment.  It again drives home the concept of the power of one.  How one positive experience impacted the lives of so many.  Yet, we have barely scratched the surface of those who came through our organization.  There are so many more that we still have to see.

To see these kids and what they have accomplished in their lives is truly awe inspiring.  Yes, I still call them kids even though most of them are now in their mid to late 30’s.  To think that the organization that I had founded and guided for over 30 years had even a small fraction of a contribution to the success of these young men and women have experienced in life is sometimes hard to grasp.  Yet, we’ve heard it over and over from each them.  Telling us that they wouldn’t be where they are today if it wasn’t for the things that they learned from the coaches and administrators of the Berkshire Baseball & Softball Club and BIG Vision Foundation.

Spending time with them and hearing their stories certainly allows me to appreciate the fruits of our labor.  It allows me a very real understanding of the ripple effect of the work that we had done for so many years.

It again brings me back to the concept of the power of one.

While we were at the dream center, they have a saying painted on the back wall of their CR Room, it simply states, “Be the difference.”  I think that is one of the things that we can all do better.  Just concentrate on being the difference that we want to see.  Too many times we focus on what other people are doing that we don’t like as opposed to just focusing on what we can do and what we can control.

It reminds me of my mom’s favorite prayer, the Serenity Prayer, which goes like this:

Serenity Prayer

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

courage to change the things I can,

and wisdom to know the difference.

It really was her mantra in life and words that we should all live by.

We can’t change what other people are doing in the world, good or bad.  We can change how we approach the world and those that we interact with on a daily basis.  That’s where we can change the world for those around us.  Just by being kind, doing good, volunteering, surrounding yourself with others who are trying to make a positive difference in the world as well.  Just be out there planting seeds of goodness and grace everywhere that we go.

There are times that you may see the fruit of your labor instantly, but we just need to make sure that we’re always going out and planting those seeds.  Regardless of whether or not we get to see the harvest, we just need to keep planting the seeds of love and kindness.

Help other people in any small way that you can.

Stop judging others and just show love to everyone who you cross paths with.

Just as hate is contagious, love is even more contagious.

You’ll find that as you’re doing more good things and surrounding yourself with others who are doing the same, you’ll be overwhelmed with positive energy.  The more positive energy that is in your life, the less room that there is for stress and negative energy.  The less stress and negativity in your life leads to a healthier and stronger immune system.  Yes, that is a proven fact, positive energy keeps you healthy.

The power of one is much more impactful than we think.  It’s not just how we interact with that one person, but it’s those ripples that go on and on.  It’s about how they will have a positive interaction with the next person that they see and so on and so on and so on.  Yes, one smile, one good morning, one kind gesture can have that ripple effect.  Your one little action can affect hundreds or even thousands of people that you’ll never personally interact with.

So, turn off the news, tune out the negative energy, and just be the positive change that you wish to see in the world.  Do what you can with what you have and make a positive difference.

The power of one is extraordinary.  Use it.