What Can I Do?

Today, I find myself writing from a place of desperation.

Our country seems to be encased in dissent, anger, mounting hatred. The mandate of tolerance has only led to the proliferation of growing intolerance.

Where hate and anger do not prevail; indifference and denial do. Homelessness has reached epidemic crisis proportions, and we get better and better at ignoring it.

People are suffering in greater numbers and resources are becoming harder to obtain. Humans who care seem to be a scarcity.

I feel helpless, useless, numbed, silenced.

Two weeks ago, on the day we celebrate love in this culture, our kids were being terrorized by another horrific school shooting. It is a dark time, and yet, it is a time of hope as the surviving children are insisting on change in a way that appears to be heard. Their call has summoned the beginning of action.

As I look out from my sense of overwhelm, wanting to make a difference but not knowing where to start, I am moved and inspired by these teenagers that refuse to be defeated by the impotence of adults. I see before me the power of individuals to wake up the world.

Even if you are not a political activist or a (fill-in-the-blank) rights champion, you have the ability to wake up the world too. You simply need to be present to those around you.

Make eye contact and smile at a stranger. Nod and say hello to a homeless person on the street. Let someone into your lane of traffic. Use your turn signal. Hold the door open for the person behind you. Let someone with few items go before you in the checkout line.

These actions are not big deals that will change the course of your day or cause you great inconvenience; yet, they are huge in impact and may give other people a sense of acknowledgement, significance, and belonging. We truly need to start noticing each other; then noticing may turn into connecting.

With tiny acts of kindness and gentleness, people are reminded that they are part of a human community that can work together in care rather than press against each other in strife.

So, as I write, I am reminding myself that I certainly CAN do that.