Give someone the "courage to face a lifetime"

"Wheeling his bicycle by his side, the boy took the narrow path down the slope of the hill to the valley and the houses below. Roark looked after him.  He had never seen that boy before and he would never see him again.  He did not know that he had given someone the courage to face a lifetime."

Out of 694 pages, this passage from The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand is the one that has stayed with me in the decade since I read the book. I have it marked with a little yellow post-it note for easy reference when I feel compelled to go back and read it as I often do. It describes the culmination of an encounter that the lead character, Howard Roark, has with a recent college graduate who is riding his bike in the hills and questioning whether life is worth living.

We can all probably identify with the boy's experience, when in the midst of some grappling with life, perhaps even questioning whether it's worth it to go on, we come into contact with someone, who without trying or even being aware of it, gives us the courage to go on; who in some simple behavior, word, or even glance, lets us know that life is worth living. Often even the memory of an experience like this will come to us in our time of need and be enough to move us forward. And I'm convinced there are a multitude of opportunities for occasions such as this everyday if we're open to them.

So what about Howard Roark? How might we see ourselves in him? He was just being himself, wasn't trying to necessarily do some grand thing and in fact didn't even know the impact he'd had on the young man. And that's ok. He didn't need to know. I think that's what I most love about this passage and why it's stayed with me over the years. To me it shows the influence we can have for good, without even knowing it, simply by being our authentic, beautiful, good, and loveable selves! Knowing the power for good we have when we cultivate that connection with our genuine selfhood so that we can express it and be the blessing we're meant to be - to our family, friends, neighbors, and everyone we encounter in our daily life - makes the endeavor well worth it.