One Person Can Make a Difference

But make it a difference that makes the world a better place

“John Kennedy believed…one [person] can make a difference — and that every [person] should try.” — former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, circa 1964

But I’d like to qualify that statement: One person can make a difference, but everyone should consider what difference she wants to make.

What’s the Difference?

Here’s the thing. One person often can and does make a difference, but sometimes, perhaps more often than we’re willing to acknowledge, that difference is hurtful, negative, or mean-spirited. Sometimes, the difference one person makes causes another person to doubt themselves, to give up on their vision, or to believe the worst of themselves.

And that’s not the kind of difference any of us needs.

An Unpopular Difference

This truth played out for me in the fifth grade, long before social media accounts, smartphones, and anti-bullying campaigns. When I was 10-years-old, one girl wielded her power of popularity to make a difference in what I can only describe even now in a hurtful, mean-spirited way: she convinced every student in our fifth grade class to ignore me.

All these years later I don’t recall if this invisibility treatment lasted two days or the whole week, but I do remember that girl’s name. At this point, her name isn’t important, and…