The Impact of a Gentle Brook
In my new book Loving Deacon, Andrew Jordan (Deacon) is on a search for purpose. He recognizes purpose can be illusive. The story touches on a number of elements, but the one I'd like to talk about today is the impact of one life upon another. Specifically how one person or even a number of people can affect the purpose, goals, and the actual path of another.
In 1970, I was in the second grade. I had a wonderful teacher, Mrs. Newburn (I paid tribute to her by using her last name in Whispers in the Wind). She made learning fun and enjoyable. I liked her so much that when she told our class she would be moving to another school at the end of the school year, I got together with a friend of mine and came up with the idea to contact President Nixon to see if he could help make sure she would be able to stay at our school. Of course, President Nixon had plenty of problems of his own, so when he wrote back he assured me that, although he appreciated how much I liked my teacher, he was sure I would find another teacher I like just as much.
He was right. The following fall, I was in the third grade and JP Pickard was just the kind of teacher to peak my interest in reading and writing stories. She encouraged us to write our own stories after reading stories in magazines and books. I ate it up and, although it wasn't required, I insisted that my mother type them for me before I turned them in. I created my own stories complete with pictures and illustrations.
In 1972, we moved from Florida to Virginia. It was a devastating blow, but I soon found myself with a group of kids who liked to create stories as much as I did. We wrote our own version of The Wizard of Oz and our teacher, Mrs. Johnson, allowed us to perform it for the rest of the school.
In 1974, our family made the trek from the East Coast to the Panhandle of Oklahoma. Talk about culture shock; no beach, no trees; Forgan even had dirt roads as streets at that time. But I once again found myself in the presence of an educator who knew just how to tap into the creative heart of his students. Mr. Kirkendall read to us, encouraged us to read, challenged us to be good citizens and taught us how to show our parents we were responsible.
My freshman year, I was under the direction of Mrs. Hinkle. She recognized something in my writing when I turned in a short story and she challenged me to expand my short story into several stories. I took the challenge and wrote my first book, The Adventures of the Bionic Frog. Although, it was never published, the dream was clearly established.
Mr. Scott was one of the most unconventional teachers I ever had. You never knew what you were going to learn in his class and there was as much time spent talking about life in general as there was in actually studying. He always told us he was trying to prepare us for life outside of high school. And in many ways, he did.
As I look back on these individuals, I realize the impact they had upon me, just one of their students. How many other individuals must they have touched along the way? It is that touch, that influence, that gentle brush of care and concern which may unknowingly affect the path of another.
Of course, I am shaped by more than these individuals. I had the love and care of my parents, grandparents, and family to influence my core. But who would I be without these influences? Who would you be if you had not come across others to impact your thoughts, your beliefs, and your character? The bigger question is who are we affecting? Whose life have we touched, however unknowingly? Our impact need not be massive to change the course of a life.
It is this quest, this search for what his life has meant which is at the core of Loving Deacon, and very possibly passes through the thoughts of each one of us. How do we find our purpose? How do we realize our impact? Perhaps it is in simply recognizing that our presence here touched another life or showed another soul that someone cares. As Deacon would put it, "I am a gentle brook which slowly changes the landscape as it passes along the surface of the earth."
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