What does it take to make a difference? When I was younger, I believed that I had to be in charge of people or organizations or be wealthy to make a difference in the world. Most of us won’t make a mark that way.
This series of posts is for those of us who aren’t in charge of anyone but ourselves, aren’t wealthy, aren’t even the sharpest minds of our generation. We’re nobodies but the masses, consumers, residents, audiences, crowds, fans, likes, the polled, the Nielsen ratings. We’re the nameless, faceless focus groups. And we all have the potential to be heroes.
Life is very busy these days – I don’t have time to lead a movement, but I’m not comfortable just focusing on my little world. There is a larger picture for all of us and we delude ourselves with thinking that we are somehow safe from the ills of the world if we stay in our shells, our homes and our routines. If the events of the last years have shown us anything, it is that security is a prison unto itself and clearly an illusion.
I am angry. I am angry about pointless death when there are so many other struggles we deal with as human beings. I am angry that I am afraid – afraid of what will happen to my family, to myself, to my home, to our future. Fear erodes compassion and kindness and produces nothing.
We have been made to feel small and powerless and useless by deranged individuals, corporations and politics. I believe in levelheadedness and that sentiment must lead to action. Like myself, many people are so overwhelmed by causes and outrage and pundits, that most of us don’t know where to start.
It starts here, my friends. With me. With you. It starts now.
It’s time for a plan. I’ve been content to shove money in random pails and jars, volunteer sporadically, send off occasional missives to my political representatives and voice my outrage in conversation. It’s not enough. It’s not a difference I can feel in my gut. Like any goal, I must set measurable, doable action items. I can’t solve the world’s problems, but I can be part of the palliative, the counterweight against evil, part of the light that battles the dark. I can be an everyday superhero.
STEP 1. Knowing that I can’t fix everything, I need to define the causes that mean the most to me.
Children – How we treat, feed and educate them.
Elderly People – How we treat, feed and care for them.
Victims of Crime – How we treat, heal and protect them.
Animals – How we respect their habitats, how we eat them as part of our diets and how we treat them in our homes.
Planet – How we develop sustainable living: water, foliage, air, food growth.
Take a Moment.
What are the causes that mean the most to you?
Tune in tomorrow, for Revolution of One, Step 2: Identifying Your Strengths
The Green Study 
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