Robert Louis Stevenson is quoted as saying: “Do not judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant.” We all strive to live a good life. We go to work, we earn our money and we support our family. In return, we reap the results: we live in nice houses and have treasured possessions. We all have our immediate little world, in the protective bubble in which we live: we take care of our own.
Our security bubble
This little bubble is amazing. It is our security blanket for life. It protects us against anything! It’s our shell that protects us from bad things: we watch the news and when something bad happens (as is often the case on the news!), our bubble softens fear and numbs sadness. Avoid anything unpleasant — kids in Africa — too far away, global warming — it won’t make much of a difference if Yo don’t recycle If we just put our heads down and get on with life, we’re fine. It doesn’t affect us. We close our front doors and shut out the unpleasant.
inspiring people
Bob Geldoff — horrified by scenes of starving children in Africa he came up with Live Aid — 16 hours of music for charity. This was followed by a group of musicians who wanted to raise awareness about global warming – they came up with Live Earth.
Martin Luther King — a man who was not afraid to stand up and express his views on equal rights.
Princess Diana — sat on the bed of a dying man and took his hand. This single act of compassion set out to change our views on HIV and AIDS.
These are all truly great people who sought to make a difference, they are great because of their actions. They went out and did what they felt they had to do! As a result, they have raised awareness and have really made a difference.
pay it later
I don’t know if any of you have seen the movie Pay it later. If you haven’t I highly recommend getting a copy, it’s really inspiring. It is based on the book of catherine ryan hyde and it’s about a boy named Trevor, who is given an assignment at school to “think of something to change the world” and make it happen.
His idea is to help 3 people to do something great, something they couldn’t do alone. Instead of thanking you, this person returns it by helping 3 other people, and so on. He is really targeting his teacher, his mother and himself, but it quickly spreads as people pay for it. If those first 3 people paid it to another three, and each subsequent person paid it to another three, if this happened daily, at the end of two weeks that would be over 4,700,82 people.
How cool would that be?! How cool would it be to put that idea into action! Well why not? What stops us? You don’t have to be big or famous to make a difference. Making a difference starts with each one of us, as individuals. A wise person was once quoted as saying: “No one can do everything, but everyone can do something.”
What we can do
Make it a daily goal to do something, no matter how small:
It can be as simple as holding the door open for the person behind you.
· You can buy a copy of the big issue and return it so they can resell it again!
Leave some flowers at a nursing home.
Buy an extra bottle of water with your grocery delivery and give it to the person who just loaded up your groceries!
Recycle
Sponsor an animal charity
Sponsorship of a children’s charity
volunteer your time
You don’t even have to physically do anything, it can just be something you say.
Complement someone in what they are wearing.
· Even a simple “well done” can make a world of difference to the recipient.
As Mother Teresa said…Kind words may be short and easy to say, but their echoes are truly endless.”
The biggest photograph
From what I can tell, the world today has become selfish and callous. We only worry if it affects our nearest and dearest; otherwise, it’s not our problem. Our ancestors made all the difference – they fought in two world wars to keep us free and great. But after pampering ourselves in our own mini-world bubbles, can we honestly say that we are?
In case any of you have any doubts, we only have one life and one planet, this is it! like in the movie pay it later — if you don’t like it — then do something to change it! Get out of your comfort zone. Do something small today, say something nice to someone, help someone else. You are part of this world, that is why you have a front door, so you can enter the world and the big picture.
We may only have one life and one planet, but we have an immeasurable number of ways to make a difference. like a person you can’t change the worldbut you can change a person’s world.
