There are times when people make such an enormous impact in one's life and yet often go about their own lives none the wiser. One of these was a guy at college. I only remember his first name. I'm not sure I could pick him out of a lineup (I certainly wouldn't recognize him now). I don't know where he was from, what he majored in, how old he was. I only know that he brightened my day every Monday, Wednesday and Friday the first semester of freshman year.
Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday that semester, I walked from my off-campus apartment across the street to the religion building and turned right to head onto the main campus quad. Each time, as I got ready to round the religion building, he would be coming the other direction. Every single time he would say, "Hi Sara!"
It got to the point where I looked forward to our paths crossing every other day. The university had three times the number of people enrolled as my hometown had residents at the time. What made the difference wasn't the greeting - lots of people said hello. Even complete strangers. Rather, what made an impact so strong I still remember it, was that every time we crossed paths that semester, he greeted me by name and acted happy to see me. What surprised me, was that he had taken enough interest to learn my name - and to use it.
Those small encounters changed my entire outlook. It created a point in my day to which I looked forward. We never had a conversation. I don't know where his life took him. I would guess, he probably doesn't remember me. Certainly, he has no idea that his simple action made such a profound impact on me that it changed my life. A small change, to be sure, but big enough to realize that I, as a person, mattered in the great universe of strangers; big enough to realize the power of one's name.
From that semester on, I have striven to pay forward the little bit of sunshine a neighbor brought into my life that fall, by letting people know, in some small way, that they matter - and I notice.
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