I drove home from work feeling like nothing I did matters. You were waiting for me on the porch, happy to have me home. Just seeing your smiling face made the rest of the tedious day become what didn’t matter. And then I realized, even as a little girl, you’re way more powerful than you could ever imagine. As you are growing up, touching more and more people’s lives in this world, it is even more important for you to understand that and embrace it.
You have the power to make other people feel like they matter
Everyone has days when they feel like they don’t matter. Sometimes, the days can stack on top of each other and nothing seems to matter. You have the power to change this mindset in others. Remember the time you made presents for your teachers, your bus driver, and the lady in the cafeteria? You didn’t want anyone to be left out. They all mattered to you. You showed them with kindness that they all mattered equally. You didn’t skip anyone.
You have the power to build people up or tear them down
Unhappy people like to make others unhappy, and you may see this more as you spend time with more kids. It is true even for adults. You can spend your time with these people just so you won’t be alone. You can find someone weaker or sadder and tear them down. But, you can also choose to change this. You can change the conversation. You can find better things to talk about and use your words to build up the people around you. You can go your own way and do good things. The easiest thing in the world is to tear people down, but you have the power to build people up. I hope you make that choice, no matter what the people around you say or do.
You have the power to make a difference
I love that trash makes you angry. I love that you love animals and nature. I will support you however I can when you want to make a difference. You were the one that wanted us to take trash bags with us on our walks. Now, you have the whole family gathering trash and recycling it, ensuring it won’t hurt any animals and putting it in its rightful place. You wanted us to plant flowers for the pollinators because we need more bees and butterflies in the world, so now we have a great big garden of them. You wanted to walk to the farmer’s market and buy fresh fruit and vegetables. Now we do it every Saturday. It is because of you. Your family is the first group of people you changed to make a difference. Take that power, go into the world and find more ways to make a difference. You have that power.
Your words, as well as your action, have power
People leave words behind them like breadcrumbs. Everywhere there are words that will be picked up by the rest of the world. We pay way too much attention to some words and little attention to others. Don’t ever convince yourself that what you say or write doesn’t matter, even as the world is crowded with comments and commentary. Your world will be built up or torn down with the words you let inside your heart and mind. Other people’s worlds may be built up or torn down with the words that come out of your mouth. Remember to give people hope and inspiration always, and this will also give you hope and inspiration. Daughter, you have already taught me so much by just by being a presence in my life. I can only imagine what you could do given purpose and motivation. So with that, I just want to remind you one last time: you’re way more powerful than you realize. You can change the world in significant ways.
