Don’t Forget to Do What You Can

I was having a conversation yesterday with a good friend about the state of the world. He has been reading and watching a lot of stuff about life in the 1940’s, and the suffering that so many people went through in all different situations during WW2.

We were talking about how good we have it now, but also about how easy it is to be complacent about the terrible things that are still happening in the world.

The conversation was particularly about the middle east, and the chaos and destruction that has been caused there. A lot of responsibility can be traced back to western governments.

There are people suffering, and people dying, and yet most of the time we are preoccupied with the minor inconveniences and first world problems in our lives.

It is troubling to look at someone like Obama, and see him on TV, appearing to be such a kind, likeable person, and then contrast that against the reality that he has personally signed off on thousands of drone attacks in countries around the world that have resulted in thousands of innocent people dying. Women, children, fathers, whole families killed without any reason.

It is easy to say, this is beyond my control, I’m not responsible for the actions of my government, and become passive. It’s true you aren’t responsible, but you are not powerless. You are capable of more than passively observing and ignoring the bad things happening in the world.

Your zone of control may not be large enough to stop a war, but there is something you can do today to make the world a better place. Something as simple as speaking the truth to people you disagree with has far reaching consequences. Something as simple as treating the people you interact with today with more kindness and compassion.

If you convince one person that the way to a better world is not through drone strikes and violence there is no telling how far the impact of that can ripple out.

If you do something every day to create value the long-term impact will be extraordinary.

It’s fine to see a problem on the other side of the world and say, “I can’t do much”, but don’t forget to do what you can in the places where you can make an impact.