You must be the change you want to see in the world.
Mahatma Gandhi, Indian political and spiritual leader (1869 – 1948)
This quote is in my quote box and I see it pop up from time to time. It reminds me that if I want people to be kinder and nicer in the world, I must be kinder and nicer to them. If I want peace I must work to be peaceful myself.
This week it has been very hard – very hard – to know what to do with the idea of living in this world. I don’t even want to link the news stories that have brought me to this difficult place. Many horrific things did that. If I choose not to know about them, pretend I don’t, act like they don’t matter, it doesn’t improve the world a single iota. Sometimes all you can do is bear witness, but that should be in the most extreme circumstances. Witnesses bear witness – they tell their tale for a reason. Remaining silent isn’t the reason they are there.
What about the rest of the time?
I think most people would agree that if I see someone being harmed, I should step in to see if I can help prevent that or reduce the harm. So this week’s tale of people standing around while someone was being harmed and/or deciding to join in with the harming – not the right thing to do. A simple 911 call from one person would have made a huge difference in the outcome of a story for a single person and in the story of other participants and all their familes and the bigger community.
What if it’s a stray comment that’s racist or discriminatory? What do you do? Does your silence imply consent?
What if you hear plans being made to harm someone? What if it’s a government or big group of people making the plans?
Short of moving to a cave and not knowing what’s happening in the world, I’m not sure what to do with the enormity of the world and what we hear every day in the guise of news and entertainment. Cave-dwelling doesn’t change the world of course. It just keeps the news from getting to you. If you are a cave-dweller who left knowing that the world is full of monstrous acts, full of people who don’t choose to do the right thing – won’t you bring that info with you? And then what?
Be part of the solution – I know, I know.
But how?
Our imagination is the only limitation to what we can have in the future. — Charles Kettering, American industrialist
You must be the change you want to see in the world.
Mahatma Gandhi
Indian political and spiritual leader (1869 – 1948)
OK. How?
