The Ripple Effect

Introduction:

   I used to be an avid daily reader of Dave Hingsburger's blog, Rolling Around in my Head. He is an articulate blogger, and an entertaining one as well. Even more important, he is an informative writer, and a world expert on prevention of abuse, and on sex education of those with intellectual disabilities. Lately I haven't had time to keep up with ANY of my blog reading, so I have pages and pages of his blog copied to real paper to read some day at my convenience. I want some day to catch up on reading his blog, something I have not done with the other blogs that I read. [For any of my readers with a child with special needs, I consider this blog as the ONE blog not to miss.] [And to any readers who wonder how a chareidi orthodox Jew can read the blog of someone who has what the Torah deems a "deviant" life style, I can only say that I need not agree with every action done by every blogger that I read. And his dealing with insults has given Mr. Hingsburger a very "true" knowledge of the ramifications of prejudice and abuse.] Over the years, Dave has evolved from having a very aggressive interaction to insults (due to his disability) to a more mature stance, and his stories involving those with intellectual disabilities are often very heartwarming, and always informative. His blog has often given me the push I need to let Ricki do things more independently.

Blog:

   Now this morning, for some reason I decided not to "dive into" my day, and did some reading instead. I checked out the last few posts on "Rolling Around in my Head", and found this story.

[Nu, I'll wait while you go read it….] 

      Now Dave has even "better" stories on his blog, but I feel that we all can learn something tremendous from this story.  The audience member who left the cough drops for Dave thought that he was doing a kindness for Dave, and he was. But unless he reads this (Dave's) blog, he will never know the extended benefit that his small act of kindness served.

   Our actions have ripple effects. A child sent out of the house with a loving hug and a smile (rather than a snarled "Run downstairs FAST before you miss your ride") will probably undoubtedly have a better and more productive day.  A warm smile, a helping hand, the smallest of gestures, will not only accomplish that small kindness, but it has a ripple effect on the person receiving it, and often even on passersby. And often only G-d will know the consequences of our deeds.