Kindness. You just need to give a little. It goes an awful long way . . .

Chris Rosati has proved as much in recent times, his small deed spreading from North Carolina to Sierra Leone. It’s an act he says proves the Butterfly Effect is rather more than a whimsical notion.

Kind actions performed on one side of the planet can impact upon lives on the other. It cost Chris $100 to prove it. It was money well spent.

The $100 in question he gave to two girls, Cate and Anna Cameron, who just happened to be sitting at the next table to him at Elmo’s Diner in Durham. Chris had never met Cate and Anna and, not long after their chance encounter, he forgot all it. The girls did not.

You see, Chris had instructed them to use the $100 to ‘do something kind’ and the pair took the task seriously . . .

So seriously, in fact, that they chose to send the money to a small village in West Africa, where the people were celebrating having just been declared Ebola-free.

Cate and Anna’s father had spent some time there, working with the Peace Corps, and as a result, this was something close to their hearts. The $100, Anna and Cate instructed, was to be used to fund a feast. Chris, long gone and having forgotten all about it, was oblivious to it all.

Until one morning he received an email. It originated in Africa. The attached image said it all.

The Butterfly Effect: From North Carolina to Sierra Leone. Lives linked. Kindness spread. Connections made. Point proved.

Not that it ends there. You see, in addition to funding the feast, Chris’ kind act has touched innumerable others, not least Cate and Anna, inspiring, educating and showing them just what is possible.

‘This was the Butterfly Effect,’ he says. ‘One act of kindness. How far can it go?’

The answer is an awful long way. That Chris is achieving so much in North Carolina ought to serve as a lesson to us all . . .

You see, Chris has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, and as a result is confined to a wheelchair. His body might be slowing down and his speech impaired, but Chris has proved that anyone can do anything if the desire to make a change is great enough.

Just over 12 months ago, he (jokingly) hatched a plan to steal a truck from a local donut factory and spend the day delivering free treats to those he encountered. Having been tipped off, the donut company provided a van (and the all-important donuts) and allowed Chris to give them away. Having seen the impact that Cate and Anna’s kindness made, he’s now planning a series of so-called Butterfly Grants, $50 donations to children that, he hopes, will be used to spread goodwill to people near and far.

That plan, he says, is to take ‘a whole lot of butterflies and get them to flap their wings’.

Here at OM®, where we count ourselves among those whose lives Chris has touched, we couldn’t be more inspired.

We are all connected.