Mere Christianity – C. S. Lewis (1952)
The big things that sculpt our social history have always had people behind them, people that strived to do something often against the odds and/or against the premises of others. The revolutionaries, the mavericks, the entrepreneurs, the rebels, the visionaries, the dictators, the peacemakers, all had others with opinions on what they were trying to do. Some agree with their intentions, and then there were those that do not but regardless of the sides taken by others, there will always be victims, plus the suffering of innocent bystanders.
No matter how hard you strive to not cause anyone any harm, there are always those times when you have absolutely no control over that aim, and people get hurt anyway, however unintendedly.
Every time you got a good mark at school, a merit, or a recognition of achievement there would have been people in your peer group that did not, each time you got dated someone there would have been others that envied you, for each job you landed there would have been other candidates that were rejected, let alone all those that were not even selected for an interview. Simply by being happy with your lot as you walk down the street could cause someone else to be sad as they might not be having such a great day, for any number of reasons.
There is no way of surviving this life without inadvertently being an influence (directly or indirectly) on others, but you can strive to not actively do so. I have always liked the saying, ‘Beware of the toes you are treading on to get to the top as they will be the ones kicking you on your way down’ and I think if more people should take heed of that as their part in looking after themselves.