The Ripples Were Good

The ripples were good……

Excerpt taken from Joan of Arcadia (circa 2003):

Helen (reading suicide note from Adam's mom): Dearest boy, my Adam. I dreamed a dream, you and I facing each other in a tiny yellow boat on green water under a blue sky. Me and my son and a yellow boat. And we laugh, and the boat rocks and the ripples spread from the boat to pond to sea to sky and nothing can stop them, and nothing ever will. When you think of me Adam, know that in a world of pain, you were, and always will be my joy. Love mom

Adam: Thank you

Joan: The ripples were good.

In this world of negativity, I am pulled to look at how one person’s ripple effect can create a world of positive change. When I speak of the ripple effect, I speak of how one person’s actions or reactions can affect another’s (even without them being aware) and so on and so on and so on. We see this in the film Pay it Forward and in the much loved, but cancelled television show Joan of Arcadia.

Just the other day, I was approached by a young woman and the first words out of her mouth were “excuse me, I’m not a gang member, I’m not going to hurt you” and then she preceded to tell me the story of how she was stuck in my town of San Ramon with no way to get back to her hometown of Tracy. She had left her debit card at home and had no cash with her. I quickly reached for my wallet and took out every last bit of change I had and said “wait, I think I have a dollar in my car too”. Sure enough there was a dollar bill that had been sitting in the ashtray for months! Remind me to come back to that dollar, will you? I give the girl the money, tell her “when you have a chance, kindly pay it forward” and then ended with “bless you”. I think she was floored that first of all I gave her the money and then ended with a “bless you”. When I got in my truck to leave, I was thinking what her life must be like to assume that I am going to think she is a gang member and going to hurt me.

It’s been said that the outer world is a reflection of our inner world. The reason I don’t watch the news at all in the morning, afternoon or night is because you are immediately bombarded with all the chaos, confusion and negative energy that runs through the electrical wires with creepy energy and into your home. All you hear is who is to blame for what and why we need to be afraid. If this is 80% of what we see in our newspapers, television and radio ads, what must be going on in the inner world of humanity? More of the same?

The time is NOW for people to make a stand and say NO MORE! If one person could visualize what is available to them when fear and doubt can be overcome, imagine the ripple effect that would create.

And speaking of the dollar bill in my glove box, how LUCKY and GRATEFUL I am to be able to have that just sitting there for months and months. I am living in abundance.

Will you join me and the others who have bravely stood up to say Yes We Can?
(thank you to my good friend Scott who linked me to the video above)

We can be the change we want to see in the world....yes we can!