Importance

More and more I am thinking it is true.
I rang someone yesterday just to make sure they were ok.  They are 70 something and had had a bad day.  Yet I really believe in that person.  Bad days are a fact of life.  I have them, as I suspect everyone does.
Yet bad days do not define me.  As long as I have a vision of good things I work to that end. To me it is the old two steps forward and one step back scenario.  Even if that happens, I have progressed a step. It is not about how long it may take to get there, it is getting there that counts.
Another mate of mine I saw last night has been spending time with someone who has real issues.  It is hard work. In a sense, it would be much easier to do their own thing.  But the payoff for the investment of time and effort, reaps dividends in another’s life that mean the world to the other, and sees them set free from a destructive lifestyle.
This is my point.  I may not be famous as most see fame.  That is, I am not in the news and multitudes may not follow me on social media.  But I can make a difference for the better in one life.  I do not know where that will lead but the one person may make a difference in many lives.  To me making a difference for the better is more fulfilling than fleeting fame. 
Sometimes it seems life is like snakes and ladders.  Someone walks into my life.  So often what happens is unexpected.  Yet acceptance of that person is like landing on a ladder and through them, I am projected higher towards my goal.  By the same token someone can come into my life, and it is like landing on a snake and I go backwards for a bit.  That is why it is important to me to weigh up influences, and jettison with respect any that is a negative influence in my life.
To me a needy person is not automatically a bad influence.  A bad influence is all take and use – seeing only themselves.  A good influence, no matter what form it may take, is someone who wants to change for the better, and is willing to take the steps to do so.  Or a good influence may be someone I can aspire to be like. 
Only I can know what is good or bad for me.  But the opinion of others should always be considered before discarding or otherwise.  Sometimes others see what I do not.  Everyone has blind spots.  If I could see it, it would not be a blind spot.
Importance is not measured by random clicks or space in a newspaper.  Importance is measured by the difference I make by just being me and helping where I can.