The Power of One

Once again, I have lived my whole life and just realized the meaning of a concept that has been in vogue (and rightly so it seems) for ages.  The power of one.
It highlights something I am really big on.  How one life can have a huge impact.  How an act of mercy or kindness of one to another, can have implications on the lives of many for generations.  What gets me is how the ramifications of an action are so often way bigger than originally intended. 
These are the actions of one person listed on the computer that had implications way beyond the initial act of kindness:
A paramedic intervened during a critical moment when a young mother, Lauren Elizabeth, was contemplating suicide on a highway overpass. By simply asking if she was okay, he initiated a chain of events that led to her receiving the help she needed, ultimately saving her life and allowing her to remain a mother to her two children.
As a pioneering war correspondent, Gellhorn reported on major conflicts over a 60-year career, breaking barriers for women in journalism. Journalism for her covered the human cost of war rather than just the strategies of generals.  Her relentless pursuit of truth and commitment to uncovering the realities of war changed how such stories were reported and inspired future generations of journalists.
I reckon there is something in this that needs to be shouted from the house tops.  That is “every life is significant.”  It seems to me kids experience a lack of purpose and meaning in this day and age.  Yet each of us can make a huge difference.
It does not need to be an on-going act of kindness but a one-off intervention.  I don’t know how true it is, but the Dutch boy who plugged the dam is an example of a one-off act that had huge implications for many.
I came across a saying that had a nail lacking for a horseshoe that prevented the use of a horse, that prevented a rider that prevented a win in a battle, that prevented the winning of a war.  All due to the lack of a nail.
The whole point to me is that I need to stop putting myself down.  At any time an action of mine may change the course of history for the better.  That sounds dramatic but no one knows the implications of an act of kindness and how it can change to the course of another and others lives for the better.