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Monday, November 30, 2009

You're more powerful than you think.

Note: the video has been changed. I was told that my first was like a feel-good e-mail message. That was enough for me; I changed the video immediately. I removed the cheese.
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What we do in life is important. We've all heard of the "Butterfly Effect." If conditions are right, small actions have big effects. 

Your actions reverberate in the world much longer than you would ever imagine. You truly are more powerful than you think.

This post and the video were inspired by a passage in the book The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs. Troubled by the unfairness of the biblical injunction that wicked acts by the fathers will be visited upon the children to the third and fourth generation, Jacobs, after much thought, arrived at a generous interpretation, and came to appreciate the passage with his new insight.

As a young boy I, too, was troubled by the unfairness of this Biblical passage. My mother had an interpretation which was in agreement with Jacobs. Years later I chatted with a minister who would go on to become a bishop and he confirmed my mother's interpretation.

Our actions influence others. A father's bad actions set a bad example not just for his children but  for generations to come. Set a bad example and your children and your children's children may very well suffer. 

But why stop with fathers?


Cheers, 
Rockinon.


1 comment:

  1. Saw the movie "The Blind Side" side last night. It is a true story about a homeless young man given a home with a family in Memphis and a chance at a meaningful life. He goes on to college and is drafted into the NFL. The good actions of the mother have a tremendous influence on the life of this young man. His name is Michael Oehr and he was drafted by the Baltimore Ravens this past year, but the real story is about a family sharing its good fortune to help this young man find direction and purpose in his life.

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