Small things can make big changes...

My Grandfather died yesterday, January 24, 2013.  He was 104 years old.  In and of itself this is noteworthy.  However, his death has given me cause to speculate on many other things as well.

For one, my grandfather and grandmother greatly influenced my religious beliefs.  The details are unimportant, but let's just say they are out of the mainstream.  And it was not through some long, drawn out conversation.  Rather, they simply said..."if you are looking for a church, give this one a try."  We did, and it stuck.

Another interesting thing I have never forgotten is the story of how my grandmother and grandfather voted.  Now the fact is they lived through the depression.  They lived at a time when socialism and anarchism was alive, well and talked about.  They also lived in a very conservation Republican/Democrat part of the country.  During one particularly contentious election in the 30's, my grandparents decided that the best candidate for office was the socialist.  And they voted for him.

Years later, they were at a party (I can't remember if it was a Christmas party, wedding or what).  But at that party happened to be the local election person.  I am not sure if it was an elected or appointed post, or if they were a party person or what.  What I do know, is that they knew the vote count.  Talk turned to politics and my grandparents made the (startling) revelation they had voted for the socialist.  The election person turned to them and exclaimed "We always wondered who those two were!"  My interest in alternative politics comes honestly.

Some may wonder why I speak of my grandparents and not my parents.  Well, it turns out my parents were killed when I was less than two years old.  By a drunk driver.  I know little of them and they were very young, so they had so little of life for me to know.  However, one thing I know about my father.  He did a record.  Why, I don't know.  On one side is him reciting his thesis.  Frankly, I don't remember it, understood little and took less from it.  He was an electrical engineer, very bright and it was way over my head.  However, on the other side of the record he chose to make an impassioned plea for civil rights for African Americans (he used the term "negro", but it was that time in our history and it was not derogatory).  I have never forgotten his words, his passion or his zeal.

The point is three little things.  Three very different things.  Yet they all had a profound influence on my life, my thinking and where I am now.  In a prior post I talked about how just a little push is all one needs.  I am now giving concrete evidence of how that works.  Sometimes it is the "second shift" that gets the benefit.  Sometimes the front line is in two or three decades.  But the point is, everything matters.