Five Dollar Impact

The other day I found myself with a five dollar bill that turned up unexpectedly in one of my suit pockets. It was a little worn, a little dry cleaned but spendable none-the-less. I don't know about you but finding "free" money like that is always exhilarating as ideas of how to spend the unexpected bounty tend to flood my brain.

Hmmm beer. True five bucks only gets me one beer...but hmmm beer none-the-less.

I could go buy one of those super complicated fancysmancy drinks from....where else...Starbucks. Perhaps, but I get too nervous ordering anything other than the regular Grande Black four sugars and I usually screw up saying that in uber cool Starbucks-speak.

I could run over to Wendy's and buy four Junior Bacon Burgers. But then what might have happen to my finely chiseled machine I have been working so hard on as of late. Well, chiseled is a matter of opinion but it's my fantasy so hush up!

I could rent one really "old" movie from Blockbuster. Can anyone say boring!

Or I could go to the dollar movie and have just enough left over for a small popcorn...no drink. There has to be a super blockbuster I didn't see that has made it to the smallest most uncomfortable theater known to man right?

I could pay Zach his allowance for feeding the dog and picking up dog "presents." But hey he hasn't asked for this week's payment so why spoil a good thing.

All the choices. All the possibilities.

But as I contemplated what to do with my new found fortune I realized there wasn't anything that I wanted or needed. Not one thing that jumped out and screamed spend here! So I resigned to the fact the five dollars would likely get shoved back in my super secret compartment of my wallet to be reluctantly spent at the snack bar at the soccer game or thrown in the next time I met my pals for drinks. What a waste.

That's when it hit me. This five dollars doest not have my name on it...no sir, it has someone else's name on it.

I sat down and thought long and hard about who would be blown away by an unexpected bounty of five dollars. My brain was a tizzy with all the possibilities and I actually had fun imagining each individual smiling and laughing when they received an unexpected gift of five bucks "just because" from the Ripple Man.

Then as quickly as the images came they left, like water rushing to leave a drain, leaving only one person's face in my mind's eye. A casual business associate that has been working very hard on a startup venture and has been literally out of sight for months. I pulled up her contact information and got to work. In my note, I simply said:

"Even the greatest of genius must come up for daylight every now and then. Take this as your ticket to a piping hot cup of coffee and a few minutes of "me" time. Enjoy!"

Well you can imagine the reaction I received from this person. Overwhelmed and appreciative of the unexpected gesture would be an understatement. It was a Ripple that I was proud to create on her behalf and was a sound investment of five bucks if you ask me!

Do you have an extra couple of bucks floating around your wallet or purse right now that could make an impact on someone's day? Tell me, would you rather spend that on yourself or would you rather invest it in the relationship of someone you really want to get to know, or get to know better. I bet you, like me, will find the payoff by investing it in someone else is far more significant and rewarding.

Hope you will give it a try and come back and share your story.

Ripple On!!!

Steve