Opportunities Abound
What will we do with them?
Opportunity. It sounds so positive.
But it’s actually neutral. Every opportunity is the chance to do something positive or negative. Every human interaction represents opportunity—will I do or say something that benefits/enhances/blesses/improves the life of the other person?
Or will I be a force for all that is wrong in the universe?
Stop being so dramatic, I hear some readers say. You’re just paying for your dry cleaning or waving at a neighbor or asking your spouse to pass the salt. What’s the big deal?
Words matter. They matter a lot, and if we take a cavalier approach to using them, we miss…opportunities.
What does it cost me to be polite when I’m paying a check at a restaurant? Nothing.
What does it cost me to be friendly when I walk outdoors to get my mail and see a neighbor across the street? Nothing.
What does it cost me to thank a colleague for inviting me to lunch? Nothing.
The truth is, it costs us nothing to be good or kind or friendly or polite. It costs us—and society as a whole—a great deal when we opt to be otherwise. When we miss the opportunity to pour some honey into the universe, we lose the chance to make things sweeter for everyone.
At the risk of mixing metaphors, I’m thinking of the ripple effect. Even a tiny drop has an effect beyond its own size. Every drop has the opportunity to be poison or balm, leaving its mark on everything it touches.
The trick is first to acknowledge our immense power and then to actually care.
My husband Ted often talks about leaving things better than he found them. He constantly seeks opportunities to be a blessing, no matter how small, both personally and professionally. My friend Irene does the same thing—she is keenly aware that her gift is hospitality—and she looks for opportunities to make people feel at home, no matter where they are. Daniel, a friend on the other side of the planet whom I met in a writing group, not only takes advantage of opportunities to be kind, he’s created an entire movement to support the notion.
What sets these people apart from the rest of us who are, generally speaking, nice folks? They’ve recognized their immense ability to improve the world and have made a conscious decision to seek out opportunities to do so.
Being a human is table stakes. Being a fully conscious, caring human who deliberately uses powers for good is another thing entirely. And so I’m on a mission to acknowledge and use my influence for good, keeping an eye out for opportunities, regardless of size. Ted, Irene, and Daniel shouldn’t have to go it alone.
Mixed metaphors be damned. A drop of honey here, a drop there. Ripple, ripple, ripple….
Well said. I feel I do a good job of leaving things better than I found them, but I also tend to take the easy route. It reminds me of Steve Jobs saying "The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do", and then your friend Daniel taking it to heart and making a real change. Love it!
I live in Boise, Idaho and with downtown parking you get the first 20 minutes of metered parking free. You pay for time above that. When it’s up, a light blinks in the meter so the parking cop k is which cars to ticket.
My business partner and I were walking down the street at lunch the other day and he kept interrupting our conversation and walking up to the meters with blinking lights and pressing the button to add the free twenty minutes for people who hadn’t made it back to their cars.
An opportunity of simple and anonymous kindness that contributes to the ripple.
Now I do the same thing whenever I walk through downtown.