Picture an athlete bulldozing through a defender over and over again. The defender goes home to find out that their knees and elbows are completely scraped up, while the athlete bulldozer goes home to the highlight reel of their performance. Now imagine someone driving down an old road with potholes, bent signs and graffiti everywhere. In both cases, it appears someone left their mark.
Leaving a mark is something that a lot of people seek to do, but what does it say about the people that leave a mark without seeking to do so.
Personally, I think that everyone ultimately makes an important mark on the world, whether they are aware of it or not. Unfortunately, that mark is not always a good one.
It can be frustrating to be part of something that does not even know you are alive, especially if you work hard. If what you are doing is worth it, you should stick with it, but I have friends who work hard doing things that drain them from becoming who they dream of being. My worst fear is they will one day have a bad influence on the world.
In hindsight, I have had many people have a bad influence on me, and I wonder if I have been a bad influence on anybody. I hope not because the best feeling for me is making the right mark on the world. I don’t want to be the one who leaves behind problems, although it seems inevitable most of the time.
I am not going to say that I am awkward, but I have had many weird encounters with random people I have met. Being a journalist has helped me do away with my awkward ways, so I cannot help but to compare before and after.
Before, I went in to social interactions thinking about silliness that makes me laugh, but I would pretend that I wasn’t think about that or that I was truly empathizing with what people were going through. Now it is similar, except I don’t mind saying the silly thoughts and I actually do try to empathize.
I have learned that people enjoy the simplest interactions, especially the ones that have something engaging about it. I just recently began to understand what type of marks that I leave with the people I care about. Also, I have learned about some marks that I do not necessarily like knowing. I think my curiosity, in this case, is something to be valued but not abused.
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