Let’s Be the Change We Wish to See in the World

Okay it’s the first week of a New Year and what am I doing today—reviewing my goals for the year. It is my belief that the most important goal I have set for myself this year is this—to rise to the challenge of Mahatma Gandhi’s words “be the change you wish to see in the world”.

This year I finally decided that I had to put my actions where my words are. It is finally time to stop making excuses or hiding. It has been a long time coming. In the past three years I have been taking classes, workshops, gaining more experience in essence distilling wisdom. I have given myself permission to acknowledge that I have something to contribute.

One of my favorite stories is the one about the starfish. A storm had washed hundreds of starfish onto a beach. A young man was walking along the beach and picking up the starfish one at a time and throwing them back into the ocean. An old man came along and said that what he was doing wasn’t going to make a difference since there were hundreds of starfish and he couldn’t possibly pick them all up in time to save them. The young man had paused and listened and then turned around picked up a starfish and threw it into the ocean and replied, “I made a difference to that one”.

The old man in that story is the voice of apathy. That teeny voice that always seems to pop up to tell us that we can’t make a difference, what good will it do, you don’t have time, you can’t save the world, who do you think you are—Mother Theresa, excuses ad nausea. This year I have decided to stop listening to that old man, to heed the warning of philosopher Edmund Burke “It is necessary only for the good man to do nothing for evil to triumph”.

There is a beautiful Jewish saying that states that if you save one life you have saved the world in time—that is the voice of the young man—the voice that is speaking to me now. I can hear his voice loud and clear now. He has been trying to get my attention for sometime.

I can personally attest to the difference that one person can make in someone’s life. When my four children were little—twin girls that were barely one year old (one of whom suffered from several major illnesses including being blind and quadriplegic), my son four years old and my daughter who was nine years old--my husband and I separated and he chose not to provide child support. My business was failing and could barely pay my salary of less than $14,000 per year. Hope was very much in short supply in my house. That year I had told my kids that there would be no Christmas and the truth was I didn’t know where the money was going to come from to pay that month’s mortgage or heating bill. A few days before Christmas, someone rang our doorbell. When I went to the door all I saw was a woman scurrying away and I noticed that she had brown hair but on our doorstep she left a large box filled with food and toys for my kids. The next day I was notified by the Easter Seals day care center where they took care of my sick daughter that an anonymous board member had chosen our family to receive a $1,500 donation and a fresh turkey. I will never know who these people were but I can tell you they made a difference.

This year I can help make a difference for someone else. What are some of the things I can do—volunteer with a support group for victims of domestic violence, serve on a non-profit board that works on affordable housing, work on the campaign to Save Darfur, volunteer with the March of Dimes. Each of us has a passion or talent that we can use to volunteer and serve even if it is just as simple as serving a plate of food to someone in need, serving as a translator, donating our time or money to causes or organizations that sorely need us.

I know that we all have a long list of goals, losing weight, cutting back on our debts, getting organized, etc. and yes all of these are very important but in my heart I know that the goal that will give all of us the most satisfaction is to accept Gandhi’s challenge “Let’s Be the Change We Wish to See in the World”.

January 2007