I’m pretty sure you’ve heard the famous Ghandi quote: “BE the change you wish to see in the world”.
I – for one – have not BEEN the change. Well… at least not to the degree that I want to… or that I’m capable of.
Actually, I’ve been pretty lazy in the BE-the-change department. There’s lots of change I want to see in the world… but if it requires any kind of discomfort or effort on MY part – I’m prone to grumble complacently from the sidelines – instead of put my money (or my time… or my energy) where my mouth is.
I think most of us have become very adept at whinging and bitching about The-Way-Things-Are… but few of us are prepared for the discomfort of getting off our bums and DOING something about the very things we bleat about. For example…
- We whinge and complain about the huge, corrupt multi-national corporations – but we’ll continue buying their products – thereby perpetuating the cycle.
- Or we’ll nod in agreement with the “Occupy Wallstreet” folk and the plight of the 98%… whilst paying our own staff the least amount of money we can possibly get away with.
- We’ll agree that the world needs a Food Revolution… and then pacify our nagging kids with McDonalds’ dodgy nuggets and the accompanying plastic trinket.
- We’ll complain about our governments’ lack of interest in our community – whilst demonstrating the ‘zact same lack of interest by suggesting that it’s *their* job to fix-it (while we passively do nothing).
- We claim to hate racism… but when somebody in our family tells a racist joke around the dinner table, we don’t speak up.
- We talk about how advertising campaigns and over-photoshopping contribute towards the low self-esteem of young girls… but then we gossip with our friends about “how fat” a relative has become.
Of course… I could give many other examples (and I’m sure you can too).
I dream of a better world – and a better way of living.
I think we can do better.
I think I can do better.
So… as a New Year’s Revolution… I’ve decided to start a little Facebook & Instagram Campaign with the hashtag #babysteps2BEthechange
It’s more of a Pet Personal Project… a way to keep myself accountable to YOU out there… (but feel free to join in!)
Every day, I’ll post a little photo… and a story… of various Baby Steps that I’m taking… or contemplating… or aiming towards… or struggling with: steps towards BEING the change I wish to see – or, to coin a phrase by a new friend, Georgina – to invest in the world (and the life) I believe in.
Because I’m not perfect… and because I’m painfully aware of my weaknesses, my laziness, my addiction-to-comfort… I’m calling it Baby Steps because I deeply believe that small steps count! Teeny-tiny baby steps in the right direction is better than no steps at all! Tiny increments of change are better than complacent whinging-from-the-couch. One less teaspoon of sugar in my coffee is better than 2-spoons-forever.
I don’t think an All-or-Nothing mentality is going to serve us. In fact, I think it shoots us in the foot.
Nobody is “perfect”… nobody is “all”… nobody is getting everything right.
But – if a whole bunch of us could just take weeny little steps in the right direction – and truly began to INVEST in the world that we dream of (idealistic though it may seem)…
Well… THAT’s where change happens.
“Let no one be discouraged by the belief that there is nothing one man or one woman can do against the enormous array of the world’s ills – against misery and ignorance, injustice and violence… Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation. It is from the numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an idea, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centres of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance” – Robert Kennedy
To make things interesting (and because I’m the type with a very short attention span)… you can expect to see #babysteps2BEthechange themes and photos covering a very wide range of topics – roughly broken down into 3 main themes:
- Changing my mind
- Changing my life
- Changing the world
I’m not going to post the Baby Steps on this blog everyday (because I don’t want those of you on the e-mail subscription thingy to be overwhelmed by e-mails!)… but, if this kind of thing floats your boat, feel free to join in on Facebook and Instagram – and post some inspiring ideas of your own! 🙂
Yay!
And Happy New Year to all! 🙂
Reblogged this on Explore America with Kids and commented:
Even one person can make a change. What we can do are the simple things: smile at a stranger (they may not smile back, but that’s okay), hold the door for the person behind you, pay for the person’s drink behind you at the local drive through or coffee shop. Just some ideas!
Yes! Awesome ideas… little things like just being KIND… and helping people out – they seem so small and insignificant – but they’re not! Thanks for those suggestions… if you have any more, feel free to add! 🙂
Hi –
My name is Michael Boyink and I wanted to contact you for a couple reasons. First is that we run topfamilytravelblogs.com which aggregates new content from across all the great traveling family blogs we find and creates a daily newspaper from it. We’ve added your blog to the sources – so new content you publish should show up there. It’s currently just a hobby site – at some point we may find a way to monetize it but for now it’s just just a way for us to keep up with the blogs we want to but also a way to send some traffic your way.
The other is that we are a fulltime RVing family of 4+ years and are in the research mode for a new book that will tell our story and the story of other families who have left traditional suburban lives in search of something more. The book is called Ditching Suburbia and I have a placeholder site for it at http://ditchingsuburbia.com.
Reading your blog we definitely feel like you guys are kindred souls and we’d love to interview you as part of our book research. If you are interested could you send me a note at adventure@boyink.com so we can arrange a time? We typically connect via phone or skype audio for an hour or so.
Thanks!