The Invisible Black Woman

Hey, y’all! If you’re just tuning in, quick rundown: I made a post on Saturday, it took off, and it left me pensive. I’m passing on what I came away with. For those keeping track at home, we’re up to thing 4 today. If you missed the previous things, there they go:

• Thing 1: “…for all us to eat”
• Thing 2: The reason is because
• Thing 3: Let your “you” flag fly

Now to thing 4: Believe in the power of one

Sometimes the number one catches a lot of flack. Just ask Three Dog Night: they made a whole song about it being the loneliest number. Al Green told us he was tired of being alone. Janet reminded us she gets lonely. Celine Dion belted at the top of her lungs she was all by herself. And Field Mob rapped they were sick of being lonely. Okay, now that I’ve fully dated myself, I’m sure you get the point.

So if one is not so great, how or why is it powerful? Because I am a glass half-full kinda gyal. Meaning that rather than looking at one as a negative, it gets me hype. I get fired up about it because you only need to reach one person to make a difference. Now some would argue that impact is only meaningful if the magnitude is significant. More often than not, society makes us believe that if our impact isn’t publicized or mainstream, it doesn’t count. I beg to differ. I mean, just ask the pebble and a not-so-small thing called the ripple effect. The pebble doesn’t even have to be a significant size. It could be as small as a pea and still cause a ripple.

Your message may reach just one person. That’s all it needs to make a difference in the lives of many. And what’s more, that one person could just be you. There are times I’ve written something, posted it and I’m led to come back to it weeks or months later. And I’m encouraged by it because it was something I needed to be reminded of at that moment in time.

The biggest lie we tell ourselves is that we alone can’t make a difference. There are many greats I could rattle off by name that would tell you otherwise. Truth of the matter is we’ll never know just how many lives are touched by what we do and what we share, but if the only life that is forever changed for the better is the one staring back at you in the mirror (and I promise, it’s never just you you’re helping), it’s so worth sharing.

That’s all I got for thing 4. Thing 5 coming at you tomorrow. G’nite!