Inspiration

There is an ad on tv at the moment for a car that says something like “don’t say you can’t change the world.  Have you tried?”  There was something else I saw about a guy in Halifax.  He came up with a really simple invention that has changed the world, saved countless lives and made the place safer.  He was rolling in it as a result, but no one would have ever known as he lived the same lifestyle although he was made rich through his invention.
I find that sort of stuff inspiring.  I know that I am not a guru.  I am no Bill Gates or Steve Jobs.  It seems Steve Jobs in particular was an ideas man.  A good ideas man.
I get ideas.  They never have the impact Steve Jobs ideas had, but if I can make someone’s life better, I am a happy man.  It may not be through an invention or some sort of gadget, but to me, a word at the right time can have a positive impact.
I know I like to be encouraged.  I was flabbergasted the other day. Out of the blue someone spoke highly of another.  That did not stump me.  But it was the person would have had no idea they were making such a positive impact.  While I had seen the good someone was doing without fuss or fanfare, it pleased me so much to know that another had seen it.  Not in some dynamic act, but in them going about doing what they were doing.  Just being who they were was making a positive impact.
That to me is just as, if not more impactful than a one-off gadget.  To me it means a life is not just a one hit wonder, but an ongoing inspiration.
It is weird but I reckon that I can do that but cannot maintain it independently.  I need others.  I need help.  Sometimes I need someone else to pick me up and brush me off and give me a drink of water.  I may not need it regularly, but if help is there when I need it, I can continue.
Changing the world is to me more than a spark that suddenly burns bright and disappears, but a slow burn.  A maintaining.  A fire that remains bright in good times and bad.  It is one thing to inspire when conditions are favourable.  It is another thing to inspire when conditions are unfavourable.  When others batten down the hatches, and someone else remains looking for and rescuing others who may be caught in a storm.
Such ones are my inspiration.  I don’t always get it right, but to me that is no reason to give up.  Learning to do something always involves mistakes, but mistakes do not negate the worthiness or otherwise of the goal.