Does One Know the Impact of a Life?

Several weeks back my dear friend, Cindy, told me a story.  This story started out happily.  Cindy’s father, Bob, was a great fan of American Football and in particular, the Denver Broncos.  Bob had been a season ticket holder since the the sixty’s, so through a lottery, won tickets to Superbowl 50 back in 2016.  Cindy and her father travelled to San Francisco, CA where the game was being held.  The day before the game, Cindy’s father collapsed in the hotel.  Paramedics arrived quickly and despite their best efforts, Bob died.  Cindy was heartbroken, and despite her grief, attended the game in his honor.

Somehow, the Broncos organization heard about this tragedy of a fan dying the day before the Superbowl he was to attend.  As a result, the Broncos sent a player with the Lombardi trophy to Bob’s funeral.  I saw the picture of the Lombardi trophy standing between the flowers and Bob’s picture next to the casket.  Cindy said she was touched by  simple gesture of support and humility that the Broncos organization showed.  I was touched just by looking at the picture and hearing the story.

As I reflected on this story Cindy told me, the question came to me, does one know the impact of a single life?  As I reflected further on this I realized one can never really know the impact that one life has on others.  When my own father died, I was amazed at the scores of people that I had never met, but somehow knew my father.  And the words some of them spoke to me about my father made me see a man I had known all my life, yet never completely knew.  I learned from this experience that one can never, completely, know anyone nor know the impact of that one life on this planet.  Cindy’s father and my father made imprints on people they will never know.  This made me question, what are the imprints I am making on the ones I have met, and what imprints are they making on others on having an encounter, however brief, with me or with Cindy.

I’m not sure of the exact numbers, but Broncos fans number likely in the hundreds of thousands.  So, more than likely, there are several fan deaths a year.  The Broncos could’ve simply sent a nice letter of condolence to Cindy and she probably would have been touched.  Yet, somehow Bob had made an impact that reached other fans, that reached the organization, that caused a large business organization to show the gesture of support they did.

Life is brief.  And in this short life, one can never know the full impact their life had on others, nor the impact those others have on others.  From this, another question arises, how much of an impact have I made?  Has that impact been affirmative or negative? Likely a mixture of both.  But, as I reflect some more, I wonder have I shown more love, compassion and optimism or more cynicism and resignation?  I will never know, but I do believe that compassion, affinity and optimism have a far greater impact.  What about your impact?