What human being has most touched your life, making the biggest impact on it?

Question

Other than Christ, Muhammed, Buddah or such. I am speaking of ordinary everyday people. How did they accomplish this?
For me it was a 10 year old girl who died 23 years ago of Leukemia. She had the strongest faith in God I have ever witnessed.I think of her often as she taught me to love, live, die, and inspired me to be a nurse.

Answer 1

Honestly, it would have to be the Blessed Virgin Mary. Without her yes, where would we be?

Taking religious people out, I would have to go with both my parents. Without their influence I wouldn't be half the person I am today.

Answer 2

My husband--he was a big bear of a man with a big heart & a gentle spirit who loved without strings through good times & bad, a truly humble & selfless person who always did his best no matter what the task. He embodied the kind of love that the Apostle Paul wrote about in 1 Corinthians 13. I am a much better person for having been married to him. He passed away unexpectedly in June of 2005 & it's been a big adjustment learning to live without him.

Answer 3

My stepfather touched my life in ways no one else ever could. My biological father never wanted me and felt free to tell me that whenever the spirit moved him. Because of him, I dismissed all father figures in my life because I simply did not trust them. When my father died, I felt a sense of peace in that I finally would not have to be condemned by him every day, and finally he was at peace from whatever demons had consumed him. A few years later my mother married my stepfather and, while I liked him, I refused to get close to him. I kept him at arm's length for most of their short marriage. The last year of his life (yes he died too, sadly), I finally let him into my heart and I am so grateful. He taught me to trust again and to love him. He was so understanding with all I had been through, and so patient. His death absolutely devastated me and I miss him every day.

Answer 4

In 1992 I took a job as a live in support staff for a man who is deaf, mentally ill, and mentally retarded. Lasted about 11 months, but it forever shattered how I look at people. He made me maskless - saw through anything and everything and demanded that I be present, truly present when interacting with him. Made me realize how often we shine people on, and how often we shine ourselves on. Since then I have been frequently accused of seeing through people - seems that being present to people is a rare enough occurance that it can freak people out. Thanks for the question.

Answer 5

My paternal grandmother who was left a widow during the middle of the Depression with 3 children ages 7 and under. She worked hard and got herself through that and never married again because she said hell would freeze over before she allowed another man to discipline her children. She was a tough, stubborn little Scot and I loved her to death.

Answer 6

My son. I've had to change my entire life for him and I would do it all over again in a second.

There's also my Papa. He was a big man and very amiable, easy to smile and loved to make pancakes for his grandchildren. We once went fishing and caught (I kid you not) 80 bluegills in one trip. He was the gentlest, kindest man I've ever known and I miss him almost every day. Strangely I didn't cry when I heard that he'd passed. Maybe it's because cancer had been slowly eating a hole in his left leg... and maybe it's because I grieve slowly, I don't know.

Answer 7

Both of my children,they have taught me how to truly love.My oldest daughter because she enabled me to survive and leave her abusive father because I loved her and never wanted her to be exposed to such things.She gave me a courage that I never knew I had,which was from God.She caused me to change the cycle of abuse that I had always known.My youngest daughter has taught me unconditional love,she has disabilities a rare genetic difference which causes autistic behaviors.She has drawn me closer to God as I sometimes get broken from her incredible needs and sometimes I feel I'm not equipped to do this fight.But whenever I have surrendered God always has given me strength.I have learned that whatever our frailties may be God like myself towards my child who is very needy I will always do for her what she cannot do for herself.So God has told me that is the way he cares for me.She has caused me to become a fighter for the least of these,and caused me to say and do things when she is treated with no dignity.I think sometimes God gave me these 2 beautiful children to draw out of me the gifts he will use,and the greatest thing I have ever done for them is pray for them and pass on faith to them.It will never be for my youngest that she will graduate from college,but it is evident to me that she knows God and worships him with a freedom and always with a child like faith.My oldest daughter has a beautiful heart of compassion,that God will use.She has the heart of a servant,she has made me so proud,not because of her accomplishments but because she has the heart of Christ towards people.Wow these children have been my greatest teachers.All I can say is thank you God for loaning them to me this side of heaven.

Answer 8

This might sound like an extremely strange answer, but my first serious boyfriend, in the beginning of university.

Not because I loved him (I probably didn't) or because of the way he treated me (not well), but because the end of that relationship forced me to look inside myself and begin to figure out who I was and am. When it ended, I felt so lost that I had to seriously consider those things and begin to question myself, spiritually and otherwise.

Answer 9

My stepfather. After my parents died, I had nowhere to go. The few living relatives I had refused to take me, so I was truly alone in the world. A former teacher of mine ended up taking me into his home and eventually adopting me. He gave me a chance when nobody else would. When he died, it was devastating to me, but I'm just so glad that he was part of my life, and that he opened his home and heart to me when nobody else would.

Answer 10

My Aunt Millie. When I was growing up I observed her strength and zest for life in spite of her being confined to a wheelchair.

It was the 1950's, 1960's . . . My aunt married, had two children then was stricken with polio in her early to mid 20's. When I was a child growing up and my family would drive for family visits I observed Aunt being a woman of strength, lovingly feisty, not letting the limits of her arm and leg movements slow her up. She still buzzed around in her electric chair, baked, cooked, lovingly guided and scolded the youngsters as we were chasing around. I saw her pick up her one lifeless hand with the other to put a wooden spoon in it to get something, used a " grabber " tool to get things out of reach. She smiled, told stories, confidently asked for help when needed, taught me how to brade my dolls hair through guidance of her words . . . What I saw in her was a woman who did not let an event in life slow her up. My observance of her warmly impacted and encouraged me in life. She was a strong, feisty, loving woman with a bright heart with life and others.