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Changing the course of the river News, Sports, Work

Changing the course of the river News, Sports, Work

A video of a little boy returning home from school to find that his sister bought him a hamster with her own money went viral on Facebook.

After looking at this, he sinks to the floor and begins to cry. And then his sister starts crying, and here they are, two siblings, hugging each other, crying for joy over the little rodent.

What makes this video so appealing, we don’t know. Maybe he had a bad day at school or had a fight with his best friend, but it’s safe to say that this little gift will be a story he’ll tell for the rest of his life.

The video made me think about how much it can mean to other people when we give freely of ourselves. We don’t always know the impact we have when we donate money, or try to visit someone who lives alone, or when we save up all our money and buy someone a hamster. Giving changes things; he changes the course of the river.

There is a delicate balance in the universe that works under our radar where the slightest introduction of something new into a system irrevocably changes that system forever. One of the most striking examples of this principle can be found in the history of Yellowstone National Park.

In 1995, rangers reintroduced wolves into the park’s environment. After hearing this, most of us imagine the destruction that wolves can cause. And while it is true that wolves do kill certain species, we may not know that they also give life to many others.

Wolves have been absent from the park’s environment for 70 years, leading to an overpopulation of deer. Deer almost destroyed the vegetation. But with the introduction of a small population of wolves, their influence was extremely noticeable in a thousand visible and invisible ways.

At first, of course, the wolves killed some of the deer, but that was not the most important thing. Deer began to avoid certain areas of the park, especially valleys and gorges, and these areas began to regenerate. Some of the trees quadrupled in size, so forests began to grow again and birds began to migrate.

As the number of trees increased, more beavers appeared, which created more niches in the water for reptiles, fish, otters and muskrats.

Wolves killed coyotes, which helped restore rabbit and rodent populations, which meant more hawks, weasels, foxes, and eagles. And then the bears moved in to feed on the corpses left by the wolves and feast on the berries growing on the new trees.

But here it gets really interesting: wolves have changed the behavior of rivers.

Rivers began to meander less, became more directed, with fewer channels and more pools. Regenerating forests stabilized the banks, so river flows became more constant and erosion was less. So wolves have changed not only the ecosystem of Yellowstone National Park, but also its physical geography.

The point is that we live in a connected universe where the smallest thing can affect and change our surroundings—and even our lives—in ways we can’t even predict. I believe that it is these small, unmentioned things that really feed the world.

Last week, a woman from the small New England town where I used to live was killed in a car accident. She left behind three sons and a daughter who wanted more than anything to have a nice memorial service for her with flowers, a reception and a grave marker commensurate with their love for her.

They raised $25,000 in 24 hours, all of which came from townspeople who donated $20, $50 or $10 to an online crowdfunding site. The sons were overwhelmed by this response, and you can be sure they will keep this generosity in their hearts and indulge in it for the rest of their lives. They will change the lives of hundreds of people, who will change the lives of thousands more.

And that’s how it all works, whether it’s a hamster or a wolf or a $20 gift. We can change the course of the mightiest of rivers with the smallest of intentions. This is such a powerful truth.