hearing: P.O.D. � Revolution
reading: Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul III and The Philosophical Strangler
wearing: Boxers and a smile ^_^
This entry is being posted up a day late (I had a, few, diversions), but as per my word it is being posted. Besides, except for my farewell speech this is my last occasion to take Minja�s Diary for a drive. So, lets get started shall we?
Elections are coming up in Canada, how many of you Canadians that are eligible to vote are going to exercise that right? Indeed, the very right that democracy is based upon? (I�m also talking to all non-Canadians. Canada is just an easy example because of the upcoming political race.) The sad answer? Very few. More and more people are becoming apathetic towards the political system, citing either that they don�t care, or that it wouldn�t make a difference anyway. They refuse to believe that one measly vote will amount to anything, elections are never won by a single vote anyway. And that fact is true, but is the mindset in accepting that fact wrong?
For the moment, forget about the fact that you may not be of legal voting age, forget that you may not vote because you�d have no clue who to vote for, or that you abstain because you don�t believe one party is better then any other. Let�s step back from politics themselves, but take with us the apathetic mindset that encompasses those individuals that believe that even should they vote for the party they desire, it wouldn�t matter. In an entire bucket who notices a missing drop?
Every person can be considered to be a speck in the world around them. The entire population of Canada is over 32 million, the entire population of the Unites States is over 290 million. Amongst that, how is a person to be anymore then a speck? A single grain of sand on a beach surrounded by thousands upon thousands of similar grains of sand. What things of any consequence can a person do?
Some specks may have gained more notice then others, and perhaps can not be called merely specks. Some end up as singers or actors or government leaders and it would seem that with their influence, their particular drop does indeed count within the bucket. But what of the average Joe Canadian or Jill American? You and I, are we anything more then a speck? Can we become anything more then a speck? Upon that entire beach, can we actually matter or be of consequence?
Time and time again I have encountered people that believe the answer to each and every one of these questions is a resounding negative. One such person essentially stated that the only ones that mattered were the ones that through favorable chance of circumstance had risen above Joe and Jill status. They believed that it was by these people that the rest of us were directed rendering any of our own attempts at direction futile.
But who said there had to be choices in ones life...for it is in the hands of others that our most significant beliefs are formed
The latter is true, very true. But it is always our choice in how we might react to those choices. Even when everything is out of our hands, we can still control whether our hands yet reach for them or not. We control our reaction, when we can control nothing more. But, does that reaction count for anything?
I myself have thought much on the matter of apathy and insignificance. Of not caring because it doesn�t matter what you do in this world. This subject in fact, is of special interest to me because it has a deep relation to my own life, and one day many years ago when I chose to continue living it.
Think about it, if the actions of our lives truly do not matter, Then what is the point of living them? If our deeds can sum up to no real and lasting good, then we can only bring pain into this world. If you�re not doing something to lift this world up� you�re only weighing it down. This is what I wrestled with, and what I founded a turning point in my life upon.
To accept the fact that one can be nothing more then a speck, a drop without significance is to embrace one�s own death before the event. I realized that I, myself, may never go on to do something great. In all likelihood, I will never discover the cure for cancer, or organize a campaign for food that will feed all of Africa. I may never do anything fabulous and memorable that the rest of the beach will take notice of, but that gives me no right to do nothing.
For if I couldn�t do anything above Joe and Jill status, I had to figure out exactly what of importance a Joe or Jill could do. The answer came to me quite simply. Whatever they could.
You can never truly know what impact you may possibly have on a person entire life through a mere month of knowing them. I�m certain you can very easily visualize somebody coming into your life and within a months time, turn it upside down leaving entire sections in rubble. So then why is it so hard for us to see the positive effect we can have in the same amount of time?
A single smile that turns your day around. A friend making you laugh and drawing you grudgingly out of a sour mood, you�ve probably experienced it yourself. Were either of these things terribly significant? No, they were merely something small. But� the antidote for them was smaller.
You can do so much with so little, often you can do so much more. Little things, they happen all the time. Big things, while more memorable, aren�t as important as those little things. They are in fact founded upon those events, and besides that come by far less often.
A parent takes their child to Disney Land, buys them expensive clothes and the best gifts at birthdays and Christmas, but� that�s all they do. Tell me, can that child be happy?
Ironically, the events in ones life that one sees as the most significant due to being the most memorable or the �biggest�, are rendered completely useless and insignificant without those little things that some view as insignificant.
Another example. You have a friend, they�re never around for the miniscule everyday stuff, but tend to be there for the events on the other side of the coin. One day, your on a rooftop ready to jump, and they happen to be around. There is no time to run to a phone to call someone, there is nobody else around, they are the only one that can talk you down. The question is, can they?
They weren�t there from day to day spending time with you, they didn�t see the subtle clues, the body language, the jokes or change in moods. They weren�t there to listen to you talk about the things in your life, you know, the everyday typical small things. The things that at this �big� moment really matter. The things that would enable them to understand what is going through your mind right then� Really, there is nothing that they can do to help you that a complete stranger walking by could not do.
Thus, I decided that I would do whatever I could do. And 99% of the time, it is the little things. Listening to someone, making them laugh or smile, being there for them or giving them advice. That ensures that when a bigger opportunity to make a difference comes along, not only am I more likely to be there but I will be far more likely to be able to do something with it. And who knows, maybe one of those people that I know will go on to discover the cure for cancer because of all that.
I do what I can with what I have, and it�s enabled me to discover that I have far more then I thought. That is why I do all that I am able even when that is near nothing either due to limitations or choices out of my hands, because I can never know for sure what it will add up to.
It is by my own experience that I say that apathy towards the world because your �drop in the bucket� won�t really make a difference is wrong. An animal in a pack that can�t hunt still has to eat, and until it can the pack is burdened. The world is far too burdened by people that do nothing not because they can�t, but simply because they don�t. Apathy is contagious, and as it spreads the world�s bucket is slowly drying up.
Every moment is but one in infinity, every person is but one in infinity, a speck. But.... if you take infinity and subtract one from it.... it can no longer be called infinity. Every speck matters... every person and moment matters.
-Adam William Salken
Never give up, never accept things as they are merely because �That�s just the way it is.� Never say �I won�t do it because it will amount to nothing.� You won�t know that until it actually amounts to nothing! You will make a difference somehow, somewhere with someone if you would only try. Why fail before you fail? And if you do fail then just get back up and keep going at it. In this way, you can't be stopped, can't be defeated.
Go, be different. Be an inspiration to others, be willing to try and retry without visible or measurable results. Be willing to slowly change the world starting with the world immediately around you.
Become part of what there is sadly becoming less of. It breaks down to simple caring, oh so simple love and not letting one moment for it slip by. It�s served me well, its part of the core of who I am, and I believe that such an ideal would also serve the world well. And if you doubt me� I have an entire lineup of friends, some have known me little time, others much longer, who would be willing to tell you otherwise.
...Oh! While your at all this? Go vote. :-P
Always and then some, Cyrik