Every Little Thing We Do Is Magic

© 2009, Betsy S. Franz

I read a powerful blog post today, that a friend of mine had tweeted on Twitter.

The original post, entitled "Sincerely, John Hughes," is an essay about a young woman's long running correspondence with John Hughes.

It is a great essay. Very well written, but it also contains a powerful message: that every one of us, every day, has the power to touch someone else's life.

The blogger, Alison Byrne Fields, writes of her two year "pen pal" relationship with director John Hughes, which began with a teenager's angst filled fan letter and developed into a close, personal friendship. I'll let you read her post to absorb the depth and breadth of it.

Her essay was in my mind as I took my morning walk around our little two acre forest this morning.

I thought about pen pal relationships I have had over the years, the two deepest of which were with my brother and my father. The letters allowed us to say many things to each other that we just couldn't say in person.

I thought of the large box of letters that my mother had kept from her suitors and friends that she had during the second world war. Letters that I often found her reading as her memories were beginning to slip away to Alzheimer's.

But mostly I thought about the effect that Alison had on John Hughes' life. An effect that I'm sure she had no dream or intention of creating when she wrote that first teen-angst filled fan letter to him.

Her post was a great reminder about the power of our actions...ALL of our actions. Every word or deed that we put out there through snail mail, through email, through Facebook or Twitter or LinkedIn or text messages. Every little thing we do has the power to touch people and change people. Every action has magic.

So with my apologies to "The Police", I want to remind you that "Every Little Thing You Do Is Magic"