Driving in Traffic on I-95

Being in the real estate business, I am in the car a lot. Many times when I'm not dodging bullets or large trucks, I ponder the other vehicles on the streets of Southeast Florida. I wonder how many lives they represent as they too are dodging bullets, large trucks or talking on the phone? Could we be connected by the 6 degrees of separation? The real thing is how many people do we really touch? Does each car ultimately represent 200 or more people that are a part of their lives? I frequently visualize that the cars are surrounded by circles and that these circles encompass the other families and groups that come in contact with the driver of the car. Sometimes these circles overlap, and maybe some of these circles touch other cars that are equally a part of their lives. I think this all goes to say that we are connected to others. We influence others, create feelings good and bad. Just remember how you honk the horn at someone, and then that person is mad, and then they cut sharply in front of another car or yell at someone at work or at home. Then those actions amplify to the others in their lives. Each person is a microcosm that expands into a macrocosm because of the myriad of connections that we truly have whether we are cognizant of them or not. It is good to remember that we influence many. A seemingly simple action can cause a ripple effect. We can be very potent. Our politeness encourages others to be polite. Our rudeness provokes rudeness. We influence others. So when driving or taking any other action, take the higher path, and as General Swarzkophf says " Do the right thing."

Similarly, we as Realtors can create joy or stress. We influence 100's of people just in one transaction, the buyers, the sellers, the other agent, the title people, the mortgage people, the insurance people, the appraiser, the surveyor, the inspection people, the staff in our office and with all of their families feeling effects of our conduct. Our competence or incompetence creates havoc or smooth sailing. Each of our actions has a cascading effect. We can be the butterfly creating a sunami or the butterfly creating a rainbow. Just remember we are important and powerful, and how we act and react has consequences not just for ourselves, but for hundreds of others. We are like movie stars placing our work out in the world for others to evaluate, not knowing who or how we will influence. Just let us all strive to be Oscar winners or at the very least make the list of nominees.