Making a difference in a small way

So you know when you watch a movie, any movie, and you get this big feeling from it?  You walk away all I-wanna-do-so-much-more-with-my-life attitude.  That I-wanna-be-that-girl/guy attitude.  That I'm-gonna-make-something-of-myself-be-a-real-somebody attitude.  From any genre of movie.  It just leaves you with that feeling, you know?

Well, if you don't know, you're missing out.  Its this incredible feeling.  Granted, hardly anything ever comes of it, but hey, at least it was there, plotting, even for a short time.

I watched "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" tonight.  Sure, I read the book, in fact I can see it staring at me from my bookshelf right now.  But that was YEARS ago.  I didn't remember much of it.  Mitch Albom is a genius though.  Truly.  So many human emotions in that book/movie.  I mean RAW emotions.  Its incredible.  Really brings you in touch with who you are, who you could be, who you want to be.

The bottom line of the movie is this: Even if you think you haven't done much with your life, that its worthless, meaningless, IT ISN'T!  The plot begins with an end.  Eddie, the main character, dies.  And he meets these five different people in heaven from his life.  Significant and otherwise, and they point out to him how meaningful his life was.  He was a maintenance man for an amusement park.  Seemingly insignificant, perhaps, but he saved so many lives by doing the little things he did every day.  Thats something.  Thats a big something.  Yet...seemingly little.

I hope I can look back one day and see that the little things I've done have made some sort of impact like that.  Hell, maybe I've already made a difference.  Or maybe I'm making one now?  My undergraduate thesis is studying the denning habitats of black bears in this region.  If it goes well that could make a huge impact on all the bears.  And maybe the hunters.  Maybe what I'm doing will save a hunter's life somehow.  Forbidding him to go out until a certain date to chase and hunt and get his thrill; keeping him home instead of in an accident of some sort.  Who knows?   Maybe by just being a safe driver and making responsible decisions I've already made a difference in someone's life?  So many maybes.

I know that I will make a difference for someone, something, somehow, some day.  We all will.   We all have.  Its only human, right?