Chip Ellis: Changing The World

What kind of impression do you want to leave on the world? Would you rather be remembered for your property or your actions? For many, this is a difficult choice that they struggle to make. The late Chip Ellis, however, didn’t falter for a moment when deciding how he wanted to be remembered. He once proclaimed, “A hundred years from now it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove...but that the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child.” The only thing that Chip wanted in this world was to make a difference to a child. He believed that the most important thing that he could possibly do was to help other people. Chip Ellis proved to everyone that you don’t need a big house or a bunch of money to be special or change the world, all you need is a kind heart and the drive to help just one person. I put a lot of my personal effort into achieving things like good grades and excelling in sports. However, I also spend a lot of my time volunteering for the YMCA through Leader’s Club. Although I do know in my heart that if I am remembered, it
won’t be for my material accomplishments, I still continue to spend countless hours working on them. Chip Ellis’ words mean alot to me in relation to how I should change my life for the better. He has inspired me to take a look at myself and how I live my life. I know that eventually all that I worry about in school or sports will be forgotten and I want what remains to be good. I want people to remember me as someone who made a difference in the life of at least one person. Only their success will leave behind a legacy that I can be proud of. Volunteering through Leader’s Club has been an amazing opportunity that has changed my life forever.
I have learned so much about what it means to be a Leader and a role model. Through the club, I have discovered the joys of serving others and serving the community. To make a child smile is truly the best feeling that one can have and it is all that I hope to receive as payment. I believe that if everyone spent just one hour volunteering a week, they too could begin to form that footprint that everyone has always wanted to make on the world. Maybe they would even start to see that true joy lies within the success of others, not in the numbers in your bank account. Changing the world seems like a daunting task, but if each person is able to touch the lives of one other person, I think we’d soon find out that the world is not as big as it seems to
be. Being forgotten is one of the most primeval fears embedded within the human soul. Most would do anything to be remembered, but often the way they go about it seals their fate. The best thing to leave behind isn’t your personal portrait hanging on a wall, it’s a child that you guided to grow and change into a beautiful adult. Your memory can then be passed on through their actions as they follow your example and focus on changing one life in order to fulfill their own. Chip Ellis, even if he never got to see it, changed so many lives and continues to do so. He is a role model not only to myself, but to every life that he touched. All he wanted was to change just one life and show people that material objects don’t matter, and I honestly believe that he has done just that and will continue to do so for all of time.