Have you made a difference in someone else's life?

Often when I try to answer questions on Yahoo Answers, I try to help by sharing what I know; I'm never sure if I've really answered the question or if I've really helped. This question is unique because I can say definitely I have, and not only am I sure, but it has been my life's work. When I'm asked what I did with my life, I answer, "I tried to teach," and people will often say,"What do you mean you tried?" My response is always the same. I seldom know if I've been successful. But sometimes I do know because I've been told by former students. That knowledge has made, and will make my death unimportant. I've failed so many times! I know I'm terribly hard on myself; much harder than my students were, but those whose lives I've touched and who have told me so cannot be denied. Two men have dedicated their doctorates to me. Over the years, often many years later, I have received letters from former students telling me the same thing. Can you imagine how I felt, how anyone with a heart would feel? For me they are not a sense of pride; rather they are a source of humility and an intense feeling of gratitude that is impossible to describe. If I were to relate a few examples, it would take longer, Sonodora, than you would want to spend reading an answer. Let me relate just one. I had a girl in my physics class years ago who sat in the back of the room; she never said a word, and never asked a question. After she left me I forgot her; she was just one in a sea of faces; one of the many I tried to help and whose memory fades with the passage of time. Several years after she left I received a plaque in the mail from a university saying that a student of mine had written an essay and entered my name in a contest conducted by the university. The contest was one in which you were to name the person who had inspired you and made the greatest difference in your life. Sarah described me!! Apparently she was so eloquent that her essay was judged the best and I received the award. I was shocked and amazed. The reason was that I had to think hard and long to remember her. When I did and realized she was that quiet girl in the back of my class who never said a word I couldn't believe it. And then I thought my God, Larry, maybe there are other students like Sarah who you will never know and never remember. Unless you are told by someone, and more importantly someone anonymous, you cannot possibly understand how that feels. Over the years, over all the failures I have had with students who disliked me; who felt I was too hard and didn't care because I asked the very best of them and it was more than they were willing to give, I've consoled myself with the thought that if I've touched two lives, only two, and inspired them to go on, then my life has had some meaning and I will leave the world a little better than I found it. I have and I will.

I try to everyday. But, I can say I have made a big difference in my younger sisters life. I took her out of a bad situation when she and I was younger. SO, yes.

Yes, a big one.

I paid her bills for 2 years so she could attend collage.

I am always there for all my family in lots of ways.

Just a wee difference, not a huge one

I reckon I have. My human sure seems to think I'm the cat's meow. Does that count?

Yes.

i made my buddy be conscious to Cornell college in ny, its and ivy league and each little thing and she or he theory that she might in no way get it. yet guess what? she did and im so happy for her

Nope.

I'd like to think so but I don't know definitely ~

I would like to think so.