The Difference You Make by Pat Williams & with Jim Denney

Author:Pat Williams & with Jim Denney
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: SEL021000, Influence (Psychology), Leadership, Persuasion (Psychology), Influence (Psychology)—Religious aspects—Christianity
ISBN: 9781441240958
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group

The Life-Changing Power of Our Words

One person can change the course of another person’s life with the power of words alone.

Track and field athlete Florence Griffith-Joyner was affectionately known to millions as “Flo-Jo” and “The Fastest Woman of All Time.” In 1988, she achieved world records in the 100 and 200 meter events—records that stand to this day. In September 1998, the world was stunned to learn that Flo-Jo had passed away due to a massive epileptic seizure that stopped her breathing while she slept. She was thirty-eight years old.

I met Flo-Jo in 1995. She and I were seated next to each other at a dinner, and she told me her story of growing up poor in South Central Los Angeles. Her eyes lit up when she told me about meeting boxing champ Sugar Ray Robinson when she was just eight years old.

“Sugar Ray looked me in the eye,” she said, “and he told me, ‘It doesn’t matter where you come from, what your color is, or what the odds are against you. All that matters is that you have a dream, and you commit yourself to that dream. Do that, and it will happen.’ Right then and there, I was sold. I was just eight years old, but I was all fired up about what my future could be.”

With words alone, Sugar Ray Robinson changed the course of one girl’s life. Flo-Jo’s time on earth was all too short, but she reached a level of achievement that has never been matched because Sugar Ray gave her the power to believe she could do it. What words of influence do you have for the young people around you?

My cancer diagnosis has sensitized me to the power of words to influence others. These days, I pay more attention than ever before to the phone calls, letters, and emails I receive. I’m aware that some little paragraph I write back or some remark I make in a media interview could have a huge impact on someone’s life. Lately, I invest more thought and prayer in every word I write and speak.

Some years ago, I was having lunch with my sister. She was in her early sixties and we were reminiscing about our years growing up together in Wilmington, Delaware. At one point, she got a wistful look in her eyes and said, “Growing up, nobody ever told me I looked nice. Mom and dad, my siblings, my friends, even my boyfriends—nobody ever said to me, ‘Ruth, you look nice. You look pretty in that dress. I like the way you did your hair.’ The first person to ever tell me I looked nice was the man I married.”

Ooh, that hit me hard. I thought, Shame on you, Pat Williams. What a missed opportunity. I’m Ruth’s older brother, and she looked to me for affirmation. Why didn’t I ever think to give her the few positive words that would have meant so much to her? Why couldn’t I have just said, “Ruth, you look really nice tonight”?

That conversation was a wake-up call.

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