I Can't Change the World...

Do you ever get some really big ideas that ignite inside you? Maybe you hear about a cause and you want to do something to help but suddenly your lack of knowledge, resources, finances stamps out the flame before it ever has a chance to grow? I've had a lot of those moments.
I hear about homeless families and suddenly I want to purchase a hotel and convert it into a transitional living space to help families get back on their feet. I hear about garbage ruining the natural beauty of our planet and I want to start petitions to ban all the plastic bags in our state. (Okay, maybe this one is within my grasp.) I hear about orphan children and I want to take some in because I know how much having caring parents shaped my life.
Why is it that we all want to change the world but the majority of us back down before we even start? Is it because the task is truly too big for us, or is it because we're looking at it with the wrong approach?
A few weeks ago, my oldest son, Elijah, was telling me that everything we recycle doesn't always get recycled. Some of the items that we put in our recycling bin actually wind up in the trash once they get to the recycling plant. Because he has amazing timing, he decided to share this information with me while I was struggling to wash out the last of the peanut butter before recycling its plastic jar.
I'm sure there was an eye roll and a deep sigh of frustration on my part as I asked nobody in particular what the point of scrubbing out and recycling the plastic was if it might not even be recycled.
To which, he so graciously inserted his 11-year-old wisdom with the response, "Well, at least you're trying."
Again I ask, are the problems of this world truly too big for us to solve, or is it that we're looking at them with the wrong approach? Instead of feeling overwhelmed by those really big ideas that ignite inside of us maybe, just maybe, we need to pursue them one action at a time. It's possible that my actions won't change the world as a whole but they do have the power to change somebody's world.

One is always more than none. Be the change you want to see.

Nicole Donoho, owner of Teddyfly LLC, enjoys writing stories for all ages. She currently lives in Northwest Arkansas where she takes in the beauty of the Natural State with her husband, Jacob, and their three sons-Elijah, Josiah, and Solomon.