As a little silvery circular ripple, set in motion by the falling
pebble expands from its inch of radius to the whole compass of a pool,
so there is not a child--not an infant Moses--placed, however softly, in
his bulrush ark upon the sea of time, whose existence does not stir a
ripple, gyrating outward and on, until it shall have moved across and
spanned the whole ocean of God's eternity, stirring even the river of
life, and the fountains at which the angels drink....
It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human
history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts
to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he
sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a
million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build
a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and
resistance....
