This is the beginning of a series of posts about excuses we make preventing us from taking action. Hope it’s encouraging and helps you recognize ideas to dodge when trying to make a difference.
Myth #1: “You can’t help everyone.”
Friend, mentor, and inspiring humanitarian Marc Gold once asked, “If the ship is sinking and you can swim, who would you save?”
Naturally, I answered, “I would save whoever I could.”
“Then do that.” He said solemnly.
Think about that. Would Marc ever perpetuate this myth?
Look closely and you’ll see that what Marc was doing was giving me a brief lesson in setting goals to scale. Help who you can first. He by no means meant to imply we should acquiesce to hunger, poverty or other forms of the world’s ailments. This is clear enough if you’ve seen his work.
But how many times have you heard this? Is it the truth? How would conversations sound if we replaced “You can’t help everyone.” with “Did you try your hardest?” or “What could we have done differently to be more effective?
Lets not fall for this line. The world in in chaos–lets join together and collaborate, we can stop for tea and talk philosophy later.
-Dwight Turner
Editor, In Search of Sanuk
Dwight/ดนัย says:
16 March, 2009 at 2:40 am -
“We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.”
-Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
BH says:
7 April, 2009 at 1:25 am -
Nice post, just what I needed to hear, ahem.. see.
I see so many things wrong out there, so much suffering and needless violence that I often feel overwhelmed and hopeless. I think, especially in certain societies, that its just ingrained into the culture and impossible to change. I am of course wrong.
Thanks for reminding me to take the steps that I can take, and keep walking.