Times People Played a Significant Role in Someone Else’s Life and Didn’t Realize Until Much Later

This article was originally published on Diynhacks.com

According to Newton’s third law of motion, every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Although this law is about physics, the same can be said for the moments that make up our lives. Every day, we make thousands of decisions that change the course of our lives. On top of that, we have the power to make a huge difference in someone else’s life based on how we act and react to certain situations. So many people have amazing, significant moments that they didn’t realize were impactful until much later. We’ve put together some of the most heartwarming, incredible, and heartbreaking moments that changed other people’s lives forever, whether they realized it or not, as shared by people on Reddit.

A Huge Impact

When we’re young, we don’t really grasp how much our actions can affect other people’s lives. This guy casually dated a woman who was a few years older than him and had a six-year-old son. Being a 22-year-old, he wasn’t super well-equipped to deal with a young kid, but he put in an effort to spend time with his girlfriend’s son and teach him what he knew best – computers and gaming.

Our storyteller eventually broke up with the woman, so he naturally lost touch with her son. About ten years later, he gets a call from her out of nowhere. She says that her son, now 16, wants to speak with him. The now-teenager wanted to thank him for the time and attention he gave him all those years ago. Because of his kindness, the kid got into computers and now builds his own PCs! Until that moment, he had no idea it meant so much to him and how much he affected the kid’s life.

A Simple Gesture

This person inadvertently inspired their grandfather to stop smoking when they were a little kid! Here’s how it went down. When they were around four years old, they decided to dress up as their grandpa as a joke. Their grandpa always wore a big jacket and a beret. On top of that, he was always smoking.

Like most kids, our storyteller thought their grandpa looked super cool when he had a cigarette in his mouth, so they grabbed a cigarette from the jacket he was wearing to complete the costume. Years later, their grandpa revealed that the image of his young grandchild pretending to smoke is what prompted him to quit. He always knew smoking was unhealthy, but seeing his grandchild idolize cigarettes was the ultimate wake-up call he needed.

A Self-Starter

This is a very sweet story that shows how a simple gift can change someone’s life. This person gave someone an Amish Friendship Bread sourdough starter as a gift one year. The recipient was inspired and got really into baking after receiving this simple, thoughtful gift. However, our storyteller didn’t give the gift another thought.

Years later, the guy who received the sourdough starter sent our storyteller a gorgeous loaf of artisan bread. This wasn’t just any loaf of bread. It was from his new bakery! The guy revealed that the bread was made with the same sourdough starter that he had been given all those years ago. How cool is that?

First Steps

One of the gifts of childhood is not being tied down by expectations and preconceived notions. A lot of times, kids think of simple solutions to problems that are over-complicated by adults. This storyteller had a “eureka” moment like this when he was about ten years old. He was visiting family friends with his parents one day and noticed the friend’s baby was still crawling everywhere.

He was bewildered because, to his 10-year-old brain, walking was super easy. So, he grabbed the baby’s hands and showed her how to walk. Her parents walked in the room right as she was taking her first steps! They were ecstatic and grateful to our 10-year-old storyteller because the baby was behind in her development. They had been stressing out about her not walking for weeks. Who knew the answer was just a simple helping hand?