"you can't make a splash without a ripple"

first off, if you haven't decided to give up a cup of coffee and give the $$ to Operation Jack (see below), what are you waiting for? Please help! Thank you.

Alrighty then. I can't think of much brilliance today, but here's what i do got. (heh):
Quite often, your actions or inactions have an impact that reaches farther than your nose. What do I mean? Please allow me to 'pick on' our middle dude, Z, to help illustrate this point.
Tip: don't try this at home. Yesterday the little prankster decided to test the laws of gravity in his school's Art Room by chucking a clump of clay at the ceiling. Guess what? It stuck! (or didn't. i don't know the details, only that he got in trouble).
Subsequently I received a text message from Tracey while I was at work,
T: "Z got in trouble at school."
G: "is he ok?"
T: "he is fine. fooling around in art class."
G: "no surprise, really. he has trouble staying focused in that class. i can relate."
T: "he has detention tomorrow at 7am."
G: "......."
Needless to say I was not happy. What ever happened to after school detentions? Seriously. Times, how they are a-changin'. And for the record, the torture repremand I got at home for the trouble that i got into at school was MUCH more of a deterrant than the detention. Heck, the detention was an hour LESS that I'd have to spend in the small closet under the stairs trouble once I got home...

So i brought the bugger to school this morning, but we had to call the front office from the curb because the doors were locked. A nice admin lady came and let him in, out of the chilly air. Off i went to work, thinking about the 'ripple effect'.

Most of us don't live in a vaccum, so pretty much everything that we do on a daily basis has some sort of impact (positive or negative) on some one else's life. I don't think that I have to go into examples, but I will if you shoot me an email and let me know. At any rate, today I have been spending some time reflecting on what ripples i have caused over the past year. As a twitter buddy put it, "So do you take the bait, and make new years resolutions? I have in the past and they've never stuck. This year I just reflect." -@jpnagan-

Some of my ripples were not all that positive. For these, I apologize. This year was better than many in the past, so that's progress, but I still strive to do better. And that's all i'm gonna say about the negative ones.

On with the positive! I inspired many people who i work with to start eating better. Some of them have even started to exercise more. I'd like to think that I was motivational in getting Tracey to take up Zumba. My parents are both more active now than they have been in several years, and they look great and say that they feel great, too, both physically and mentally. I love it.

But I can't take credit for starting these ripples. well, maybe i can, but the ones that got ME going, in large part, started with the online communities to which I belong. Yes, dear reader, that is YOU. While the above picture of a ripple sums up what one looks like in a small body of water, alone, I think that this one more accurately depicts our situation(s):

Each instance of rippling impacts the one next to it, then the one next to that, then on and on. Each time an event occurs (in this case a rain-drop), a ripple is started. maybe that ripple leads to a devastating flood. perhaps it leads to just enough water in the trough to provide for the farm. perhaps it prompts people to run out and get an umbrella. Point is, the same sourse can produce many ripples that can impact many others. I prefer the ripple effect over the domino effect. once the impetus for the ripple is removed, all is calm, all is bright (see what i did there! NICE.....). remove the source from a row of dominoes, and the pieces are still left scattered about.

Are you mindful of the ripples you cause, and the ones that others cause that impact you? Reflect on it...