I can’t believe this happened 21 years ago already.

It was back in the fourth grade; Mrs. Mahoney’s class. She was from up North, so she said things like “Warshing machine” and “George Warshington.”

It was charming.

There’s a lot I don’t remember from that year. But, this moment I’ll never forget.

I was in the bathroom.

It was either after lunch, or before P.E.

I was washing my hands, and while one of my classmates, Jonathan, was drying his hands, he decided to pay me a compliment.

“You know. You’re a likable guy.”

“Oh yeah?” I asked.

“Yeah, it would be hard to not like you. You’re just easy to like.”

“Thanks.”

What he said stuck with me.

Maybe it’s the way he delivered it. He said it thoughtfully, and it’s not like he had an angle. We weren’t even friends. And I didn’t have a big bag of candy he was eye-balling.

I know it was just a compliment, but there was something about it that has informed a central part of how I view the world.

You’re responsible for the kind of person you turn out to be.

Well, mostly.

There’s an external factor which can’t be ignored:

The power of someone else’s words.

You can shape someone else simply with words.

That’s a lot of power isn’t it? You can contribute to someone else’s inspiration, or emotional baggage. It can’t be taken lightly either. Because people can carry stuff like this with them for the rest of their lives.

Maybe they won’t even remember you…too many years go by and what you said to them is just part of some internal narrative, endlessly looped.

I don’t remember much about Jonathan. I know he spelled vegetable correctly for an in-class spelling bee the year before in the third grade.

Oh, and I remember we all thought his mom was hot.

That’s about it.

But I’ve never forgotten the compliment he gave me that day while I was washing my hands in the bathroom.

His words taught me that we can all be conspirators in helping craft the world around us.

Let someone know they’re likable.

Words can be gifts. Even bathroom compliments.