What We Can Do: A Call for Action

While trying to make our own, personal existence better, we cannot help noticing what surrounds us. Every day, no matter how good that specific day is for us, we hear of the horrors happening, physically, somewhere far away from us. The feeling I get is not “it’s not my problem”, but it is more like “it is happening, and that is bad enough for me and the rest of us”. And I am certain I’m not the only one.

Each and every single day we hear of people killing animals, people killing people, people hating each other for money and power, people dying of hunger and poverty, animals being butchered as part of a sport called “hunting” or simply dying because man has destroyed their habitat.

The first question that comes to mind is “ok, so what can I do about it?” And that, to some extent, is true. There is not much we can do, except sign virtual petitions which will never reach the addressee, talk about it with our friends and families, suffer secretly because of it… I find it sad, not being able to do anything, just repeatedly asking “why?” and “where is the perfect world promised to us when we were babies and everything was colorful and safe?”

A few months ago, I had the honor of translating a book called “The Children of War” from Romanian to English. The book was written by a Romanian war correspondent, a remarkable woman who decided to DO something, instead of wasting time wondering why it is happening. It took a lot of courage and strength for her to go to all those horrible places in the Middle East, where people are being killed in their beds and children are being held hostage in their schools. By translating that book I somehow felt like I was contributing to something, like I, myself, was making a small step towards action.

On the other hand, by reading about all the things this woman and many others like her have done and are still doing to help, I felt rather small, insignificant… and I realized that I was standing in front of something much bigger and much more valuable than the little, stupid things we complain about every day. There are people out there putting their lives to risk in order to help others who are less fortunate.

This is what being human really means in my opinion. Not just having two legs and a mind which can do much, but does little, but doing all it takes to make the world a better place, not just for us, but for every being on this planet. It sounds Utopian, it is true. But not impossible, if we cease, even if only for a second, to be selfish and uninterested.

I have been told many times that I am too naïve and idealistic… That might be true, I am a very young girl and, like everyone else my age, I wish to make a difference at some point in my life. On the other hand, I have been fortunate to meet extraordinary people who are more experienced that I, but who seem to have kept their young innocence, that wild dream of making a major difference to the extent of changing the world in the name of what is good, valuable and beautiful. I personally think that, as long as you have that, even if, for a long time, it is only a daring dream, you are already doing much more than most of those who surround you.

I am not sure if I have proven a point. I am approaching a difficult problem, but which has interested me ever since I can remember. I believe in signs and missions, I believe in destiny and free will… and I am, as I said, an idealist. Much like the poets who died of hunger and solitude throughout history, but with the belief in their hearts that they knew something others did not. But something tells me I am not mistaken. Things can be better, because the initial plan was for them to be that way. People can give more and be thankful for what they already have before asking to receive more and more and more.

The bottom line is… being born human is not necessarily a good thing. People have taken the power given to them and have put it to bad use, in many cases. One can say “I am human, I have an impressive intellect and I can achieve anything I want! And I am proud of it!” Well, so was Hitler. My opinion is that being born human is not, by itself, a guarantee of anything, but it is a chance for one to DO something to prove gratitude for the gift of being human.

As I constantly stressed, this is what I think. I am always willing to share it and not criticize the ones who feel differently. In the end, we are all entitled to our own opinions and choices. That is what free will means. I only hope free will stop making people cause pain and suffering.

An animal, though it is inferior to humans, always does what it was meant to do. It never chooses to break the link. We only have to watch nature and its course in order to say “now that’s perfection!” Instead, we choose to destroy it also. Emily Dickinson once said “How strange that Nature does not knock, and yet does not intrude!” For some reason, I find that thought inspiring and revealing.

What I have written in these pages is no more than a personal opinion. It is something that makes me question my own powers and limits. We all have them and, unfortunately, we are not given a manual at birth to find out how to use them. That is something I have still to discover. Until then, I just hope good wins the fight against evil, like it always happens in fairy tales.

Being rational is great, but great intellectuals have said themselves, that it is essential to maintain that childhood innocence. So why not choose to live a fairytale? It’s much more pleasant than living a war.