Ripple effect

Yesterday an Emeritus Professor in the bio dept passed away. He was highly decorated with memberships in academies and an impressive track record of research. But these aren't the things that affected me... the most important to me was that he paid attention to people around him, no matter who they were.

I didn't know Howard personally, but I've been told stories about him. He used to eat lunch at retirement community restaurant here in Bloomington. (Apparently, he was quite the ladies' man... always flirting with the little old women, but that's beside the point. :) )There was a waiter working there to pay his way through undergrad. Howard got to know him, found out that he was a biology major, and weaseled him a dish-washing position in one of his friends' labs. That waiter was my uncle. He started as a dish-washer in that lab, grew interested in research, and now he's a Principal Scientist at Genentech.

Not only did Howard have a profound effect on my uncle's life and career, but mine too. When my uncle was in grad school here at IU, I came to visit for a job-shadowing school project. My goal was more to hang out with my favorite uncle and get out of school for a whole day, but one day in the lab was all it took and I was hooked. If it wasn't for my uncle, I may not have been exposed to research and careers in science, which I'm so passionate about.

All that to say, be mindful of what you do, of how you live, you never know how far your legacy will stretch or who you may be influencing. The ripple effect extends far past our individual human experiences.

"Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain." 1 Corinthians 15:58