I'm Going to End Global Warming!

I asked a group of residents one day, "If you could change one thing in the world, what would it be?"  I got a few of the typical responses - the weather, end hunger, to go home - but one in particular stood out.

Dottie replied by saying, "I'd change myself.  You know, the way I live.  Nothing else is ever going to change unless I do."  I instantly thought of Ghandi's words, "be the change you want to see in the world."  I've been thinking a lot lately about how it's the little things that mean the most.  Sure, we'd all love to go out and solve world hunger or end global warming, but if those are our goals (noble as they may be), we might get so discouraged in the process that we stop doing the little things.  I'm starting to think that a million feasible (but unnecessary) acts of kindess would leave a bigger impact on this world than ending global warming ever could.  And who knows, maybe the extra kind word you say to someone will be just the inspiration they needed to go on and end global warming someday. 

This hits close to home for me right now.  I'm caught in the horrible yet exciting place of deciding whether to go into more debt for a masters degree or keep working to pay off the debt I already have (because Lord knows no one in the healthcare or religious fields are going to pay for a masters for me).  But it's more than the money.  I could go on, suck up the debt, and get all kinds of degrees to do all sorts of research and try to cure Alzheimer's someday.  Or, I could stay in Smalltown, USA working as an activities technician making just over minimum wage but (hopefully) leaving a mark on the hearts of 50 beautiful individuals who, if I didn't come in, might not have one meaningful conversation with a single human being that day.

I think both roles are equally valuable.  Somebody needs to be doing that research.  But am I the one that's cut out for it?  Just because I want a cure for Alzheimer's more than anything in the world doesn't necessarily mean I'm the best person to find it.  Maybe I'm more well-suited for the small-scale stuff.  Somebody's got to take care of those 50 wonderful people while the research is taking place.

I'll stop casting my personal dilemnas on you now.  But I do think they testify to the truth in Dottie's statement.  Whether I'm singing "Bicycle Built for Two" at the top of my lungs, terribly off-key (so that 30 wheel-chair ridden people can hear me over the hustle and bustle of a chaotic nurses' station) or sitting in a lab until 10:00 at night staring at brain scans and family history statistics, I'm not going to be doing anyone any good if I'm not finding a way to impress kindness on everyone I meet.  For one, it will probably burn me out if I lose sight of the beauty in the little things in life.  I think joyful connections with the people around us are vital to life.  We are relational creatures (you'll have to excuse the theology major in me coming out...).

While it is good to have goals for the big picture, I think society as a whole will be a lot closer to achieving them if we learn to interact in a more healthy manner with one another.  If I do end up sitting in that lab someday, I think I'll be a lot more productive (and less likely to give up) if the person I bought my coffee from that morning had a genuine smile on their face.  Call me crazy, but at least for now, my contribution to finding a cure for Alzheimer's (heck, even for ending global warming) is to be kinder to every. single. person I encounter. 

You may think I'm copping out.  That's fine.  But I know I could be a lot kinder to most of the people I come into contact with.  It certainly won't hurt anything, so I think for Dottie's sake I'm going to give it a try.  At least I know that this is an achievable goal; the rest will come with time.