Changing The World
Posted on May 18th, 2008
by 
Amber
Amber
How does the world change? Does it happen in a burst? In one explosive moment, where afterwards, every one shivers, knowing something in the air is different?
Or is change more like the picture seen when all the right puzzle pieces are put together? Does it happen bit by bit, each piece often unnoticed by itself, recognized only in retrospect?
Does it happen in a quiet, slow ripple or a massive wave, or both? Is it caused by war or peace, science or art, an individual or the masses? Is it done by mistake or deliberately?
People have tried to change the world since people have been. Some have succeeded, others have not. Perhaps yet others have succeeded in silence, the changes they have made all around us now, noticed, but unaccredited.
If changing the world were easy, would every one try to do it? Is changing the world "that easy"? If so, how can it be done? What is the magical key, the mystical answer to how to change the world?
This question has kept me awake at night. I wonder sometimes how far I would go to change the world. I wonder how brave I would be if changing the world meant something far scarier than volunteering or simply being kind to others. Would I still try? Or would the game change for me then? I've never been tested; I've never been that afraid. The only violent crimes I've seen have been on TV. I like to tell myself I'd do the right thing at all times, but I suppose everybody tells themselves that. I wonder if I will ever know. That if I ever have the chance to find out, I won't be disappointed.
At the very least, these concerns drive me forward to do the best I can in the work I've chosen: to try to inspire, motivate, and empower others to do the best they can to change the world. Being aware that I was born in a safe place and not a warzone, being aware that I will probably never starve in America, and never waking up to wonder if I will have a place to sleep the next night - all of these ways I am safe, I know others aren't. I must take advantage of what I have, that safety, and work to make sure others can experience it like me. I don't ever want to become so comfortable in the safety of my life that I forget the danger and misery of others' lives.
It's nice to write like this. To have this conversation with myself. Sometimes I get so busy that my mind is full of noise, but in rare moments I get to think, to remember why. I have to keep remembering, so I don't forget.
Or is change more like the picture seen when all the right puzzle pieces are put together? Does it happen bit by bit, each piece often unnoticed by itself, recognized only in retrospect?
Does it happen in a quiet, slow ripple or a massive wave, or both? Is it caused by war or peace, science or art, an individual or the masses? Is it done by mistake or deliberately?
People have tried to change the world since people have been. Some have succeeded, others have not. Perhaps yet others have succeeded in silence, the changes they have made all around us now, noticed, but unaccredited.
If changing the world were easy, would every one try to do it? Is changing the world "that easy"? If so, how can it be done? What is the magical key, the mystical answer to how to change the world?
This question has kept me awake at night. I wonder sometimes how far I would go to change the world. I wonder how brave I would be if changing the world meant something far scarier than volunteering or simply being kind to others. Would I still try? Or would the game change for me then? I've never been tested; I've never been that afraid. The only violent crimes I've seen have been on TV. I like to tell myself I'd do the right thing at all times, but I suppose everybody tells themselves that. I wonder if I will ever know. That if I ever have the chance to find out, I won't be disappointed.
At the very least, these concerns drive me forward to do the best I can in the work I've chosen: to try to inspire, motivate, and empower others to do the best they can to change the world. Being aware that I was born in a safe place and not a warzone, being aware that I will probably never starve in America, and never waking up to wonder if I will have a place to sleep the next night - all of these ways I am safe, I know others aren't. I must take advantage of what I have, that safety, and work to make sure others can experience it like me. I don't ever want to become so comfortable in the safety of my life that I forget the danger and misery of others' lives.
It's nice to write like this. To have this conversation with myself. Sometimes I get so busy that my mind is full of noise, but in rare moments I get to think, to remember why. I have to keep remembering, so I don't forget.
Access: PublicTagged with: volunteer, charity, community, change, helping others, volunteering, philanthropy, service
change
July 2008
Amber, this is beautiful and your zeal to help is apparent. Writing about assisting others is one way to help, to get the word out, but often what is needed is action, or the actual walking the talk. I think you'll find many ways that you can and will help others, in word and deed. Your blogs and your pictures show that your heart is a heart of service. So - my simple advice is: keep talking and then walk the talk, do the things that you talk about, be the example of change in the world.
I try to do that quite a bit. Every moment I'm not at school I am working on things for the non-profit organization I run, connecting others to ways to make a difference through volunteerism in our area. Even though I spend hours upon hours doing this, it never feels like enough. One day, I will be able to do this full time. :)
See, you are already doing great things. A person with a big heart like yours will always feel that there is more to do. But even the littlest of things, can make a huge difference. Encouraging people is a large thing, in my opinion. Just work at it, little by little, and one day, just one day, you may indeed be doing this full-time. Sounds like it brings you great joy and that is what's important. Do what you love, with you entire person and all of your heart, and all else will be added. Keep up the great work.
Amber,
You remind me of all those ordinary blessings that are so easily taken for granted. You remind me that it isn't that way for all the people of the earth. Yet, I wonder too at the arrogance of using my life as a standard to judge the quality of life in an unfamiliar culture, an unfamiliar environment. Might there not be blessings in that place as well?, which I am not able to perceive?
Of course, when one is struggling to survive in the face of natural disaster or warfare, that is not the unfamiliar world which I am thinking of here, where I might miss the blessings (and yet may exist unknown to me, even in those difficult circumstances). Natural disasters are just that and while good planning and affluence may reduce the risks, or enable a quicker recovery, that is not always the case. Some circumstances can not be understood at the human level.
Faith that every thing that happens works together for the good of the whole is the only trust I have to fall back upon at such times. And, to follow through and do what I am able to do, when the opportunity presents, to give from the overflowing of my own blessings, that others may live to see a better day.
Deborah