“Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life.” – 1 Thessalonians 4:11
“He seemed quite content with who he was – pretty much unknown beyond the city limits of our small community,” I once wrote about my beloved junior high school principal, B.F Jordan. “Why is it, then, that I remember him?” I then asked. “Could it be the quiet way he touched the lives of the many young people he taught?”
I knew the answer, of course, because B.F. Jordan was one of those special educators who had touched my life with his wisdom, wit, character, and passion for teaching. Yet not just me, but scores of others who happened to have the good fortune of crossing his path on their journey through the education process were equally impacted by him. Modest though he was, what a remarkable influence he had on the students who passed through his school!
Sadly, though it is nothing new I suppose, the voices of such quiet influencers as B.F. Jordan – and you have probably known some in your own life – are often drowned out by the loud voices of those in the public domain, politicians, entertainers and the like. Every generation has had them, for better or worse, throughout history. Only in our own age with modern technology and nonstop media sources, those voices have been amplified to a higher decibel and the audience sizes multiplied to such an extent that we tend to overlook, and sometimes forget, the impact of those quiet, behind-the-scenes influencers.
How many baseball stars, for example, made it to the major leagues without a little league coach who taught and encouraged him, or even a dad who played catch with him in the back yard? And who was that little league coach anyway except some generous soul who stepped up to volunteer in his local community?
I wonder if the solutions to many of our society’s problems today lie not in those with the loud voices and big ideas, rather with the B.F. Jordans, the little league coaches, scout leaders, Sunday School teachers, and others making a difference. And they lie with each of us in being living examples, something as simple as helping or encouraging somebody else. Even small quiet acts can make a big difference. “Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life . . . so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders.”