Ever stopped to wonder why some people leave an indelible mark on our lives?

It is something that I ponder often.

Take for example JFK. 50 years ago this week, a president that has in so many ways touched all of our lives, be us from a generation that were there at the time, or children of today's generation, he is a man that stood out in our world as a special man.

Was he perfect?

Far from it. In fact, if you listen to the in depth analysis of his life as a man, he was pretty much a bit of a bastard really, but he loved his country and wanted the best for people. For that I think he won all of our respect.

That is not something that can be said for many men that serve in the highest office of their nation. It is easy for me to sit here and type, casting stones at people whom I despise, rulers that I take issue with, and politicians that I think have fallen way short of the mark, but then does that make them any better or worse than JFK?

So why did he leave such a mark on us? Was it that he was snatched from us in such a cruel and unexpected way?

Possibly!

I mean, take for example one of the people from GA that to this day still permeates my thoughts and feelings daily.

Karl or Roan to many of us, was one young man from GA that made a remarkable impact on me in the very few weeks that I came to know him. I miss him terribly, even now, but why? I mean I never met the boy, nor was more than someone whom talked to him on skype every now and then.

Was it that nature stole Karl from this world prematurely, before I had a chance to say many of the things I thought or felt to him? Probably, yes. But I also think it is so much more than that.

So if tragedy plays a part in it, how is it then that some will effect our lives from right next to us, in situations where tragedy is never part or parcel of our passing in time?

Take for example a boy whom I learnt to love from the shadows. We were at school together, in a time where I was far too naive to dream of admitting my crush, and far to afraid to ever try do anything to test the waters.

I still see his beauty in my dreams, here his voice in wide open spaces when I am alone, and can daydream about him for hours still. Yet the truth be told, I have not see or even heard of him for well over 20 years. He was someone I saw more than knew, yet he impacted my life far beyond the time and place where seeing him every day was the norm.

Personally I think it has to do with so much more than circumstances of how we meet or do not meet. I think it is more than how they touch our lives or come or go. I even feel it is more even than the things they teach us or awaken in us.

No, for me I feel it is about the way a person resonates with our inner soul for lack of a better word to use.

I truly believe that each of us has a part of our character, the person that we are, that clicks with some. They just fill the gaps in our lives, like a jigsaw in a way, filling out the big picture, each piece an important part with a life all of its own. Without it, we are not whole, and with it, even if it was there for but a moment, we have filled that part of the puzzle and can go on. As a hand is made for a glove, people who are there for a reason in our lives, be it brief or be it for an extended period, they are the people that make us who we are.

So despite that I will never get to meet someone like JFK, or speak again with our precious colt, or ever know what happened to Michael from school, my life is richer for having known of them, and been inspired by things they said, stuff the did, and ways in which the touched my life. It is good to remember them, honour them, and cherish their place in our lives.

In as much as we say every year that we will never forget those who died in our stead in war, I can honestly say, there are those too that I will never forget who have meant something to me in my life.

Thought for today - "A test of a people is how it behaves towards the old. It is easy to love children. Even tyrants and dictators make a point of being fond of children. But the affection and care for the old, the incurable, the helpless are the true gold mines of a culture." - Abraham Joshua Herschel

Song for today - Everybody's Changing