Since writing Kilimanjaro and Beyond with my son Chris, there have been moments that have taken me totally by surprise. I was hoping the book would provide inspiration to some to get up and do something for themselves and others. Every once in a while, I will receive an email or someone will come up to me and say that they have been inspired by something in the book. Those moments are precious and I just never know when one might occur.

Two things happened in the last two weeks that really moved me. The first occurred at church when a shy 10-year-old named Jeremy came up to me with an envelope that he had decorated. He said he had saved some of his allowance and he wanted to donate it to our project. The envelope contained $11.50 and I was really touched that he would do that. I believe that education and the power of kids is key to getting the world out of the mess it is in. It bodes well for the future as long as there are kids like Jeremy out there.

The second came to my attention via Facebook. A FB friend in Connecticut sent a message to direct me towards a classroom website prepared by a young teacher of 5th graders.  She had chosen as a theme for her class, “Reaching New Heights.” She had chosen my quote to display at the bottom of her page as inspiration for her class. The page is at the following link:

http://hinehappenings.weebly.com/index.html

The point of all this is that we just never know who we are influencing by what we say, how what we say might be used or where others might be when they use it. People remember things that are said in idle conversation that they might be influenced by. We all have the power to influence so we need to keep that in the back of our minds as we go through life.

You just never know…