Your Spiritual Footprint

Much has been made of calculating our individual carbon footprint. Personally I think it's all a scam foist on us by fat guys who ride around in limousines to separate us from our big, safe SUV's and stuff us into smart cars with an engine taken from a vacuum cleaner. I don't think it matters one bit what car you drive.
But what about your spiritual footprint? What's that? Well, I would submit that the way you interact with others – minutely, but permanently – bends the course of human history. Think about this. If you woke up this morning and your car had been stolen, it would change the course of your day. It would shake your faith in the goodwill of your fellow man. You might consider stronger locks on your home, more property insurance, maybe an alarm service or a gun. In a way, you'd want to fortify your life against this kind of loss happening again.
And it doesn't stop there. Your kids, neighbors, and coworkers might see you doing all this and – not wishing to fall into your fate, do similar things – widening the circle of fear and insecurity from this single act of theft. Before you know it, friends, neighbors, family all across the country are a little more afraid, a little more worried.
Likewise when someone helps you, shows you a kindness, blesses you, it has the same kind of ripple effect. It can spread joy to all those in as big a sphere as the pain spread by a thief. Now think of this... Every day you have multiple opportunities to help, ignore, insult, anger, bless. You can leave behind you a wake of goodwill, greed, generosity, good or evil. You can't avoid leaving a wake, but you can choose what kind of wake it will be.
In the scheme of things, we as individuals are small. It's not like one of us can stop a war or reverse a famine. But the question you must ask yourself is this: am I making this world better, or worse with each passing hour? Am I a thief, stealing and taking from everyone without gratitude or remorse? Do I help, encourage, energize the people I interact with?
I often think about the futility of the life of a common man. We live, we breathe, eat, love, hate, and die. Nothing I say or do will be remembered for more than a few years before falling into the obscurity of history. Nothing – apart from my family line, will go on, but in a few generations, they will forget me – I'll be a note in someones diary. So then are we just cattle that no one eats? What's the point?
Here it is. This is why you are important. Your spiritual footprint is small but not insignificant. Echoes of who you are will push into the future, some fading, some building momentum, until something comes of it. When you scream at your children in anger because they annoy you – instead of digging for patience – you might cause a war in 2075. When you help a family who lost their dad in Iraq, you might build the faith of a nation in 3041.
Whatever you contribute in this lifetime, it's a permanent part of the history and legacy of mankind. Perhaps you'll prevent the annihilation of the Earth someday.
Ahh, but you have lived so many years as a greedy, evil, selfish person. You've already spread so much hate that you can't be undone... right? Nothing could be more wrong! Yes, you have bent the history of the human species in a bad direction, but it's never to late to begin to influence it back in another direction. History is not a straight line, it's like a lazy, winding road or a gentle breeze.
Life is a gift. The future depends on you. You matter. Deal with it.