Influence

You know, the word influence has been thrown around the last five years with all sorts of subject matter.  He/she has been influenced this way.  I am influencing my children or people around me.  I have other people say, "you are a good influence on this person."  True influence means that how you act, talk, and handle situations is then carried out by another to try to be like you.  When people substitute teach for me, I get good reviews about my students.  They tell me, "they are soft spoken, respectful, and you must have influence on them."  While I am not taking all of the credit for some of my students, the majority come from a home that is either split or a single parent home, so my influence plays a role.  I was once accused back in high school of being a bad influence on someone's child.  Where I went and who I hung out with contributed to this.  I knew this wasn't true, but I didn't let it change who I was.  After I stopped hanging out with this person for about six months, I saw the parents later and they told me that they had misspoken.  That it wasn't me, but it was their son's fault.  Mind you, I don't claim to be a saint or have it all together.  I still work on not being short fused and sometimes speaking out of turn, but my point is when you speak the truth, good or bad, politically correct or not, sometimes it hurts, sometimes it heals, and sometimes it helps others.  Try to be a positive influence on someone this week.  You never know when someone needs it or when you can make a difference.