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The people who influence our lives are like shadows.

Depending on the slant of the sun’s rays, there are short shadows. These are the people with whom we may interact only once for a matter of hours, yet they leave an imprint on us. They may teach us a lesson we needed to learn or they may help with a temporary problem. Short shadow people may not even be aware of the influence they have had on us.

Medium shadow people are those who are interwoven into our lives for years, maybe neighbors or co-workers or slight friends. These shadows have rather a small but cumulative effect on us.

Ah, but the long shadows change everything! These may be people who are with us most of our lives or just a short time. What marks them as a long shadow is the impact they have on us. Long shadows change the way that we think. They influence us to make better decisions. They redirect our lives to the right path. Simply put, they bring forth our best.

Sometimes we don’t even recognize the long shadows in our lives until they’re no longer with us. I recall a stanza of high school poetry from Edwin Arlington Robinson’s poem Flammonde.

We cannot know how much we learn from those who never will return until a flash of unforeseen remembrance falls on what has been.

If you watch closely and listen intently, you’ll see people write about or hear people talk about the long shadows in their lives. A woman in a workshop today commented that the advice from her dad has served her well all her life: “Be confident and be competent in all that you do.”

Take a moment and think about the long shadows in your life. Be grateful. If they’re still around, let them know just how grateful you are.

And then cast a long shadow on someone else’s life.

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Flammonde, the full poem