The Ripple Effect ( Archived) (5)

"Each choice we make causes a ripple effect in our lives. When things happen to us, it is the reaction
we choose that can create the difference between the sorrows of our past and the joy of our future."
Unknown

When you drop a pebble into a still pond, you’ll see a splash... You'll notice concentric circles rippling out from the center, where the pebble hit the water. You may watch the ripple travel out in an ever expanding ring...

But, the pebble might also have other effects. As it sinks it might scare a bunch of fish (so appropriate to remember on this site), or frighten a duck enough so that it leaps out of the water. A simple act of throwing the pebble into the pond caused change, and you are connected to the pebble, the water and through the effects of throwing to the fish and the duck.

The term "Ripple Effect" was coined by Jacob Kounin in 1970, to describe the effect teachers may exert on students. The term itself spread beyond the field of education, as it applies to our everyday lives.

Ripple effect reminds us that no action is without reaction, and the ripples, in some cases, may be far-reaching.

As I read through few wonderful posts, I could not help but think of the ways in which people from here (people that I have never met) and the words that they write affect my life and create the ripple effect... whether they know it or not.

Our thoughts and our actions are like that pebble, dropped into still waters, in as much as they create ripples that spread and expand outwards. What we think and what we do affects the people in our lives and their reactions in turn affect others... they all add to the ripple.

So, what I would like to ask of you is to think about the ways in which you were a pebble that initiated changes, or about the ways in which the ripples affected you.

Each of us has a capacity to change the world in small ways for better or worse. The choices that we make have real consequences, in our own lives and in lives of others. I would like to hear about the people whose words or actions changed your world, as well as about the ways in which you have impacted others... in this pond, or outside of it - in real life.

To be honest.. that's one of the reasons I love my job. I get to meet so many people that usually don't have much left, and who almost always (at least eventually) become so self less..

Things they say and do, do influence my decisions often. .. and I know the things I say and do effect theirs.

It makes me very humble.. and grateful for what I do have. It makes big things seem very trivial.



But it also makes me less tolerant of whingey whiney people unwilling to help themselves, or do anything about it.

depending on the depth of the pond also matters... ie everytime I vote.

the deeper/bigger the pond the less effect you'll bring about.