Your influence is greater than you think

Andy was a vagrant. He would sit on a park bench right on the waterfront of our Sydney harbourside suburb from sunrise to sunset, gazing out across White Bay towards Balmain. He wore the same clothes every day. He never showered, and he reeked as he passed by, tottering unevenly. He must have been aged only in his mid to late 30s.

He would just sit there, day after day, in one of the most affluent suburbs in Sydney. Occasionally someone would give him a bag of chips, a bottle of soft drink, or buy groceries for him. He used to relieve himself in the garden of the apartment of a well-known Australian publisher.

He was tolerated. People tried to move him on, but he never did move on. In winter, he would sleep under the eaves in front of the real estate agent’s office, with window advertisements of million-dollar properties. This went on for years.

And then one winter morning in 2014 he collapsed and died of a heart attack – in our street. The whole community came out to celebrate Andy’s life in a service held at the front of the real estate agent’s office. Hundreds of people attended. A plaque saying ‘Andy sat here’ was put on his favourite park bench.

That bench dedicated to Andy is still there.

Nobody ever knew where he came from. He had no known relatives. Nobody could trace his whereabouts or his background. But he made such an impact on our community. We all felt a greater sense of connectedness. We took the effort to stop and chat to each other in the street, and small acts of kindness and compassion became commonplace in our affluent harbourside suburb.

It made me realise the profound ripple effects that our lives have on the lives of others. If a vagrant could have such an impact, imagine the influence your life has on the many hundreds and thousands of lives you have touched!