The difference of one

That was the name of a segment I used to do on my radio show, featuring individuals who stepped up when they saw a need or a cause and did something about it. I hear so many people ask ‘What difference can I make, I’m only one person’, and they really do feel that powerless.

But firsthand accounts from people who dared to do something on their own and turned hearts and minds around as a result…..are all the evidence we need of the power of one.

Just such an account came in an email this week, and though it was fairly personal from a young woman to the family of Terri Schiavo, I wound up with it because of the radio show we do together. I asked for and received permission to post it.

This semester my social work classes were difficult because I was the only person who didn’t have very left (ACLU, Gay Marriage) type ideas and I often was persecuted by my classmates for my views and ideas. I really felt Jesus telling me to hang in there.

Tonight I received a beautiful email from my most difficult professor.  I had written a long paper and given a class presentation on Terri Schindler Schiavo. When I picked my topic, everyone in the class supported the decision to remove her feeding tube and I knew I had one shot to show them the value and dignity of each life.

Pause here….

Nearly every week on the show during the guest interview, Terri’s brother Bobby mentions that throughout his worldwide travels and talks on behalf of the cognitively impaired and disabled, he continually encounters people who are convinced they know Terri’s story, and they support the removal of her nutrition and hydration based on what they think they know. But they don’t know the truth. They’re startled when they learn it. Nearly every time. The media have perpetuated the lies about Terri because if they ever admitted the truth about what was done to her and justified on the highest levels of the judicial and political system, their house of cards would tumble on all the life issues.

So this student ventured forth with the true account of Terri’s ordeal, with an audience that had already made up their minds.

After I was done with my presentation I noticed a change starting among my classmates. They began to question their beliefs and a couple of them were able to come to the truth of what happened and see it as the grave moral evil it was.

My professor told me I did an excellent job defending the right to life and that my conviction resembled the martyrs of old. He went on to say he had never had such detailed information about Terri’s case.  Though he started as a staunch supporter of the tube being removed, he no longer holds that view. What beautiful conversion our Lord has wrought!

This made me internalize and really deeply realize that our new evangelization is small and personal. I will never be a Janet Smith or a Tim Staples in this world. Yet, holding fast to truth when it hurt me, and when it costs me potential friends in class has borne so much fruit.

This email from him is one of the best compliments I have ever received- it lacks vain glory for my own ego. It meant I was able to respond to Jesus and the truth of our faith in action.

I am excited to continue and feel pretty on fire!! Thank you so much for your prayers this semester, I needed them.

Let us all go forward as Christ’s disciples and and our holy father Pope John Paul II to strengthen us with fervor to always stand up for the truth.

Thank you for your witness to truth and hope, Anastasia, and the difference one person can make when you’re determined to do what’s right, regardless of consequences. You’re a true inspiration.

And so are the members of the Schindler family, each and all.