You may recall that I reviewed a book called A Scientific Search for Religious Truth about six months ago. I did what I usually do with a review: posted it and emailed the web links and a copy of the review to the author or publicist, then moved on to the next project. I barely gave any more thought to either the book or the review after that.
About ten days ago, I received an interesting email from the editor of Bookpleasures. It turns out that the author of A Scientific Search for Religious Truth died shortly after the book was published. He was about 80 years old and this book was the major project to which he devoted the last four years of his life. The author's son did a Google search and discovered that I had reviewed the book. He wanted to contact me about printing my review on a web site devoted to his father's life and work.
I tweaked the review a bit more, then sent it to the author's son. Less than an hour later, I got a phone call from the son. It turns out that I was the first person to review the book. He thanked me personally for the review and chatted for awhile about his dad. It was a very nice conversation and the review has been posted at Dr. Mundt's web site.
After I hung up the phone, I couldn't help thinking about how even the littlest things we do affect other people. I never imagined six months ago that my review would touch the author and his family as it did. It's pretty humbling to realize that the things we post online are available to anyone in the world at any time and they leave lasting impressions. Blogging is not simply fun, it's also a responsibility and an opportunity to influence lives. I hope I will live up to my responsibility by using those opportunities wisely.
3 comments:
That is really neat!!
Wow! How wonderful that something you wrote had that kind of impact on a family like that.
How cool is that. We never know the impact of what we say or what we do has on others.
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