Brace for impact!

Easter is almost here. While not religious, our family has celebrated Easter as a modern American cultural holiday, with the colored egg hunts and hidden baskets of goodies. But also as professional musicians, it’s one of our busiest work-times of the year. On Sunday I went to see one of my husband’s concerts at a big church in the center of Munich – they were playing J.S. Bach’s St. John Passion. As I sat there in the space, listening to the music, participating in the community experience as an audience member, and as a fellow musician many thoughts went through my head.

Millions of people in the world know that Bach was a composer and they’ve probably heard something he’s written. Even if they cannot recognize it as Bach, they know his music. But I think it’s an interesting fact to bear in mind that Bach was not “famous” in his lifetime. He was just a family guy (he had all-in-all 20 children, not all of whom survived), with a job that he went to every day and gave his best because he believed in what he was doing. He was a prolific composer because he had to be – there was no such thing as repeating classics at the time. New music was composed and performed every week. He had no idea that more than 300 years later, in cities all around the world the thoughts, feelings and sounds he put to paper would actually STILL be around.

I looked around me that day, at all the people who had bought tickets beforehand, stood in line in the cold more than half an hour to get a good seat and were spending their Sunday afternoon with family, with friends, or alone in this space – listening to the work of a man who died more than 270 years ago! I saw happiness in their eyes. I saw the animated faces of the choir.  I heard the orchestra in sync in their complicated dance. I became teary when the bass soloist actually joined in at the final chorus and sang it by heart. And what occurred to me then was that we may never know what kind of true impact we have on the world.

You’ve probably already heard about the droplet of water making ripples that move outward. This was the picture in my head as I experienced this concert around me. Bach just went to his job every day, did the best he could, in service to something he believed in. And he has profoundly affected the world. He has brought happiness to countless listeners. He has brought work to countless performers and technicians so that they can feed their own families. He has brought a reason to gather as a community on countless occasions. And he never knew, couldn’t have known.

We also couldn’t possibly know what our own impact might be. We can, however, be conscious about the probability that we are influencing the world more than we imagine. Your masterpiece might be your happy, independent children. Your masterpiece might be that project at work you nailed that led to your promotion. Your masterpiece might be that book you always wanted to write, or the support group you start.

Or it might even be the eye contact and smile you gave the cashier at the grocery store today. She had been feeling invisible – no one would miss her if she were gone. But you saw her today, and it gave her some hope. You’ll never know, but you made all the difference for her.

We have immeasurable power just doing what we always do. We can take heart in this awareness when we ourselves are feeling powerless, and remember too, the great responsibility we have as a consequence. With our single droplets of the day-to-day we can create the tsunami that destroys, or the surf that uplifts. Your masterpiece is just as important as Bach’s. So just go out there, do the best you can in alignment with your values and beliefs – it WILL make all the difference.

 

I would LOVE to hear if this post made an impact on YOU –
leave me a comment below, let’s start a conversation!