PEOPLE WHO MAKE A DIFFERENCE

I doubt any of us has ever heard anyone say that they wanted to be forgotten. More likely, most of us hope, to be remembered. We would perhaps even like to be remembered as having made a difference.

I don’t think that the only memorable people are those who become famous because we see them in the media. In fact, those are people we actually do not know except through media. What many/most of these people are like as people is something we will never know.

However, I think every one of us knows someone we consider special and extraordinary. To us, and often to many other people around us, such people are admired, respected and regarded fondly. The question is, what makes some people memorable?

In some case, a person may have invented something, accomplished something or achieved something notable, which benefits others.

Some people, for example, create and invent things all of their lives because they are able to perceive a need and know how to fill it. Other people devote their time to helping others well being, and their health and mobility concerns.

This group of people often are employed and/or volunteer their time to the caring professions.

Other people raise money to help people needier than themselves. Still others volunteer their time to thousands of charities and organizations that provide aid to disabled and challenged individuals, particularly those who find life very difficult.

Many more people however, might be considered ‘unsung heroes’. These are people who are perhaps ‘stars’ only in our lives. We unconsciously or occasionally consciously, give them our esteem and regard because they give so much to the rest of us. Almost any parent might qualify. Hopefully some of us who are aunts and uncles, brothers and sisters, friends and neighbours, might be considered ‘good guys’ to those in our lives.

There is much good done every day by ‘ordinary people’ many of whose names most of us may never know. To me the people around me are the unsung heroes of my life.

They are the people who populate my life: they greet me and recognize me and cheer me up and often cheer me on, as I go through my day. They are actually in the ‘front lines’ of my life. Frankly, they make all of the difference in the world to me.

I hope I thank them enough for the role they play in my life, although I doubt it. They are present in my life and I am in theirs. I hope they are as glad to know me as I am to know them.