"What One Man Can Do
**” What One Man Can Do”
**This title is not meant to exclude women or nonbinary persons
It is the title to a song by John Denver (I am pretty sure he wouldn’t have wanted anyone to be excluded either)
I have always felt inspired by this song! If you are not familiar with it, what it talks about is, what one man did that changed the world. Have you ever secretly wondered what you could do to change the world? Maybe you have some ideas about that (remember, use your “powers for good”)? On a grand scheme, it seems so big and impossible, doesn’t it? As humans we have ancestry that proves it is not impossible. Here are some examples of others of our species that have done that (it’s not meant to be an all-inclusive list I will start with the big ones): Jesus, Mother Thresa, Gandhi, Mohamed, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcom X, Syd Banks, C.S. Lewis, Princess Diana, Paulo Coelho, Bob Dylan, Victor Hugo, DaVinci, St Francis of Assisi, William Shakespeare, President Zelensky, there are so many and I think of them whenever anyone comments on the state of the world. All of the people who were listed started out as normal, regular human beings; as babies, children and then adults, just like me and you. They had hopes, dreams and chores they did not like doing, people they loved and liked, others they hated or disliked, chores that they did not want to do.
What is your dream for humanity? A lot of people have a vision of what they would like to be but then they might think: “What can I do? I am only one person, it is too big, I will leave it to the politicians or rulers.” I believe it is up to each and everyone of us to work towards the change we want to see. There is a misconception that we must do everything all at once. This simply isn’t so! We do not have to employ “Grand Gestures,” just change or tweak the small everyday little things that we do, to ones of kindness because that is what life is (a sum of small actions and gestures). One more thing, before I get to my listing and that thing is this, just as evil is insidious, small gestures promote the antidote to it little by little, balance-counter balance, good can be infectious too!
What One Person Can Do
- Smile
- Reach out a hand in loving kindness to another soul in need-or just reach out to someone you have not heard from in a while
- Love-One and other as humans, partners, friends, parents, siblings…
- Check your own energy first before you try and “fix” someone else’s’
- Teach by example
- If someone asks for help, do it to the best of your ability
- Take care of other people with out making it a big deal. They do not owe you because you helped them.
- Do something that you or others might charge money for, for free-once or twice a week.
- Make extra food or desserts and take it to a neighbor
- Be gentle
- Make other people laugh
- Walk your own path the best you can
- Focus on one thing at a time
- Believe in ideals
- Share just because you can
- Realize just because you can do something does not mean that you should
- Trust other people (even children)
- Trust yourself
- Forgive-other people and yourself
- Do not ask someone to do something that you would not do
- Be humble, grateful, kind and love as much as you can everyday
To further quote the song, “what one man can do is dream.” To dream is how it starts but dreams disappear into the mist of our subconscious if we do not act. Those actions can be small or large and it may not seem to matter, but it does. Small raindrops that fall into a stream make it grow stronger and give it the energy and volume it needs to reach the ocean.
Be well and have a great weekend!
Heather