Leave a mark on others

The driveway of the nursing home is forever imprinted.

This fall, when the leaves were wet and the air was damp, leaves fell from the branches and drifted onto the driveway.

And there they sat.

There they sat for so long, it would appear, that the “ink” of the leaves transferred to the driveway. The leaves are gone, but their marks remain and have forever influenced the life of that stone.

It seems a mighty power for such a thing as dainty as a dead leaf.

We, too, leave our imprint on the lives we touch. What imprint did you leave today?

Did you bite at the sales clerk? Did you talk nasty about your neighbor? Did you shout at the children?

Or, did you smile?

If frozen in time, would the face you imprinted on their hearts today be a snarl or a smile?

We are an accumulation of the things we see and the things we hear and the things we touch throughout the days, throughout our lives. Each contact is but a leaf falling upon our driveway, staining us with its influence.

I teach young children to cook because the women of my tiny hometown of Iroquois taught me to cook. Now I realize their lessons went far beyond cooking. By example, they impressed on me the duty of service. No recipe ever called for it, but it was mixed in with each batter we made.

Every day we choose the mark we leave on those we meet.

“Journey quietly on your pathway to forever with charity & a smile. When you depart it will be said by all that your legacy was a better world than the one you found.” — Og Mandino, The Gift of Acabar

And, in case you’re curious, according to the University of Washington, tannin, a substance in plants (and especially in leaves), is the cause of the staining. It occurs when rain “rinses the tannins from the fallen foliage and leaves a trace.”