The Story of Tyler

About five years ago, I knew a guy named Tyler. He was funny and smart and popular...and I had a fat crush on him. The school year was winding down, and he and I were going to spend our days at new, different schools. But I didn't want him to just remember me as that one girl in that one class; I wanted him to remember me. So being the nerd and overachiever I am, I told him a quote almost everyday (I'm chocked full of 'em so it wasn't too hard). It was something simple I could do, and hopefully he would remember me for it, even if it was as Courtney, the girl who told him random quotes.

A year or so went by, and I hadn't heard from him. One day, I saw that he was online and decided to chat with him. We went through the formal things...how's it going, what're you up to, that kind of thing.  I asked him how he was liking his new school, and he told me all the things that he had accomplished. He was the class president, the leader of the percussionists, and he was taking all the advanced classes he could. At first I thought he was bragging, but that mindset changed with one sentence.

"You know, ever since you told me to make my life worth writing about, I've been trying harder in all aspects of my life."

To be completely truthful, I didn't even remember the quote I told him. I still don't know what it was, and I've been wracking my brains ever since, trying to remember it. But it just won't come to me. And in some ways, I'm glad it won't.

I only told him the quote because I wanted him to think of me as more than that one girl. I was being selfish. But that one little quote completely changed the way he viewed his life. I haven't talked to him since then. I don't know what he's done with his life, what his plans are. All I know is that I changed him. Even if it was only for a little bit and even if he only lived it for that short time, he still made an impact on other people as the class president and the leader of the percussionists and in all of his advanced classes.

Somehow, I made an impact on him. And he made an impact on other people, because of what I had told him. It was the first time I realized that, through the random little things I do for other people, I can change the world. And so can you.

Through the simple, random things you do every day, you will change the world.