What Can I Do, What Can You Do, What Can Any of Us Do?

Okay everybody. Now and again I talk about something serious/important to everyone, not just to me and my own little world. And this is one of those times.

So for school I had to read this book called No-Impact Man. It’s all about this guy, his wife, and his daughter, all living in New York City, who try to live without impacting the environment. At first I was a little hesitant about the whole thing. You see, Colin (the writer and No-Impact-Man) does something that other people just don’t do. He took making a difference and took it to the extreme. And a lot of people hated him for it.

Why?

Because Colin gave us a little touch of ‘loser’s guilt.’ I do not mean, of course, that you are actual losers, (well…not MOST of you.) but rather it’s that touch of envy/anger/offense that we get when we see someone doing something great that we’re sure we could never do. He made the difference, not us. He got the publicity, not us. He dared to change himself while we sat complacently watching South Park or Disney Channel, or (for those of you who have even LESS of a life than me) the Weather Channel. (Who watches the Weather Channel? And I mean for the weather. Not for Storm Stories and all that.)  He went all the way to the extreme, where only the delusional and the ridiculously idealistic go. And most of us, though good people, aren’t either of those things. And the thing is, we want to be.

We all go through life believing in something or looking for something to believe in. We want so desperately to be driven and to have a goal and a purpose. We want to fall mad-crazy in love with something, and to be excited about it. We all want to change the world, in our own small way, and say ‘Hey World, I was here and I made a difference.’ And we all want to believe it. We all want to believe that we can do it; we can make a difference, we can believe, we can dream big and make it happen. But there’s one huge thing holding us back: ourselves.

I’ve always personally hated the phrase, “The only thing in your way is you.” I always could (and still can) say a thousand things in the way. But I think is there’s something more to it than that. There was this movie called ‘Akeela and the Bee’ that I saw once and it had a quote in it that I still remember. (The gist of it, not the whole thing.)

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us most. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and famous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that people won’t feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in all of us. And when we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” –Maryanne Williamson (used in a speech by Nelson Mandela)

We are a people filled with fear. We are afraid to throw out our chests in pride of who we are and what we are doing for fear that someone with an arrow will shoot us down in our hour of triumph. We are afraid to succeed because we are afraid to fail. We are afraid to make others feel bad. We are afraid that if we rock the boat, we will be thrown out and taught to swim. We are afraid we don’t need the boat.

You don’t need the boat. I don’t need the boat. And we can both swim. So what are we waiting for?

I don’t necessarily mean the environment. Ghandi said, (in a much-overused quote) “Be the change you want to see in the world.” But here’s a quote I think is better for us.

“Be the change you want to see in yourself.”

(What??? That makes no SENSE!!!)

You can try to change, you can do the outside change, but on the inside, you can still want to go back to before. To when you were complacent. So don’t change your ACTIONS. Change YOURSELF.

To change the world we must first change ourselves. It doesn’t have to be a large event, visible to everyone. It can be a decision to think more about others. It can be to volunteer at a charity, go to church more. You can resolve to give away things you don’t need, or teach someone a skill. Be a friend. Be a good parent. Embrace your inner child. Don’t restrict yourself. Turn your face to the sun and smile because you are a unique and beautiful person and you have been given so much power, so much potential, so much ability to love and hope and dream for a better tomorrow, a better today, a better you and me, a better everyone.

So what are you going to do about it?

Sunny

Below I posted a few links of people (or organizations) trying to change either themselves or the world, even if it is a little at a time.

http://noimpactman.typepad.com/ No Impact Man

http://therosarytrail.com/ Margo and her journey with the Rosary

http://www.soldiersangels.org/ Adopt A Soldier

http://www.all.org/ Right to life from birth to natural death

http://www.childadvocates.org/ Help for abused children

http://www.worldvision.org/home.nsf/pages/home.htm?open&lpos=top_img_logo#/home/main/help-change-a-childs-life-today-1-1119  Help for impoverished children

http://freerice.com/ play games and get rice that really goes to families in need, instead of points

http://www.doe.org/about/?aboutID=11 Breaking the cycles of poverty, addiction, criminal lifestyle

http://www.aspca.org/

I bet a lot of you are wondering what I’m going to do to help. What I’m going to do to make a difference. I don’t know yet. But I like to think that by sharing with all of you, I’m getting it started.