Everyday so many of us wake up and look around and wonder how we arrived where we are today. More importantly, we wonder how we can make change in a world that doesn’t seem to respond to our cries and concerns.
Humanity has seen darker times than we have currently, and with each darkness and enlightenment we have experienced, strengthening communities has been key to finding brighter futures.
We will not change the world with one demonstration; we will not convince someone in one conversation. Changing minds and hearts takes much time and energy, like the growth of a magnificent tree or the wearing away of a riverbank reshaping a landscape.
One of the most powerful actions a person can do right now to change the world is to have a cup of coffee with our neighbor, express our own personal journey in life, explain how we became the person we have become, and share why we feel the way we do about the world now and where we are headed.
Yet the very most powerful thing we can do is to listen intently to the person across from us as they tell us the path they have walked themselves. Listen to their fears, listen to their wants, needs, and concerns, not in a transactional way, but by holding their thoughts in compassion as if they were our concerns.
Morning will always come, but it is up to us as individuals how we spend the dark night, and what we do to protect those we care for, our loved ones, our community, as this world shifts around us.