A Name on the Wind...

Tanis...that's the newest name in my head. I like that name. It's the name of a stranger who helped me when I had nothing, and was fairly desperate, drifting through Europe without a dime or a passport. I knew her for all of five minutes, but she helped me when no one else would and I remember the name...Tanis. It means something to me...something important. For me it symbolizes the kindness in each of us, the untethered willingness to change a life without expectation. I've been lucky enough to have a dozen or more of those stories in my life, and I remember each of them as clearly as I do yesterday, sometimes better.

It's been asked of me on a number of occasions, what made me feel the way that I do about stepping into the lives of others, even if only for a moment...that I must have had some pretty significant experiences to shape and twist and bend me into this person who believes wholeheartedly in the power of caring, and my answer is always, "of course." The moments have been frequent and sublime, almost creepy. At every major interval of my life there has almost always been a kind stranger, a timely accident, a gentle and unsolicited voice of reason. That's why I like the name Tanis. It just crossed my mind tonight. I don't know why but it did, and there you go.

When's the last time you changed someone's life?