Am I Naive Enough to Think I Can Change the World?

     The time has come, my friends, to rise up!  To lay claim to what is rightfully ours!  To scream out in righteous indignation at the evils of our world, our society!  Let us do as we do, and voice our objections!  For are we not a society of self indulgent, self righteous, spoiled brats?  Do we not drown ourselves in obesity and excess as the world around us suffers and starves?  Why concern ourselves with the various genocides that run rampant in those imaginary far away places?  Why concern ourselves with the insignificant waves of drought, famine, and pestilence that wash over the globe?  We  have REAL issues!  Hear us as we roar from our cyber soapboxes!  Feel the wrath of our Im’s texts, and emails!  Hear us fret over gay marriage as children starve!  Fear not the dictators who threaten life…. instead, vote for your favorite American Idol!  Do not waste time with silly insignificant lists of soldiers who died today defending our god given right to arrogance; not when were busy worrying about who Angelina Jolie is adopting and humping! 

     This is our society, people.  This is you, this is me.  Its so easy to play the “let someone else deal with it” card.  I, like so many others, fall victim to this trap.  There was a time, when I was young and idealistic, that I thought I was going to change the world.  I would be heard!  The powers that be would succumb to my generation, and I would lead the charge!  Then came family.  I traded saving the world for providing for my brood.  And its not an unfair trade…  but we forget.  And, maybe out of guilt, maybe in an attempt to regain  relevance and validity, we all seem to end up here. 

     The reality of how big the big wheels are sets upon us.  Our insignificance becomes simply another characteristic to be accepted.  We realize that one man cannot a mountain move, and go about our mundane existences.  And this is why the winds of change blow by us. 

     So what does that leave?  Do we lie down those last few inches and surrender to the inevitability, let the apathy wash us away?  Or do we do what we can?  Do we surrender to the natural selfishness and worry about our back yard, or do we look within ourselves and pull forth the last remnants of altruism?   The thing about our back yards is that in most cases, they connect to others.  Each of us lives our own novel, but there are characters in our books… characters with novels of their own.  That’s where we begin.  Life is an exponential series of choices… And sometimes one small choice to benefit another is all it takes to change the world.  And if we all change our little corners, the corners will eventually add up.  Pacifism changes nothing, but the smallest act can change the world.