Weekly Musing #23 If not you, then who?

This week’s musing is inspired by an article by the journalist Vesna Prekopic who wrote a brilliant article this weekend in Dagens Nyheter about democracy, polarization and how she has decided to take a stand for a better world.

One quote especially resonated deeply with me:

"Democracy must be defended in the small, so it can become strong in the big”.

In a world that more often than ever feels overwhelmingly dark and complex, where the only way forward seems to the rule of force, where democracy has been on the way down the past four-five years (according to The Economist Democracy Index) and we have way (imho) too many countries ruled by old men with autocratic visions, and of course ever week there seems to be an alarming report about the climate, it's easy to just sit back and ask yourself "What's the point? Why should I even care anymore? What can I do after all?".

This resignation can be seen in many places, it is widespread among the people who choose not to care about climate change, not to care about wars far away, and we even have politicians arguing for less climate action since "it's not our fault anyway and we can't really affect anything in other countries".

Then when violence strikes in their own back yard, instead of trying to figure out why it happened and what long term changes need to be made to hopefully changing the future, they choose to look for quick fixes and someone to blame, which of course is a perfect starting point for their “how much worse everything has become” broken record bickering.

So why should we care? why should we even try? I mean the world's problems are too vast for one person to solve, right?

Wrong.

If we look back in history, many monumental changes began with an individual or a group of people who decided to try. Who started in the small and saw their cause be carried up into the big.

The old saying “Better light a candle than curse the darkness” might feel like a cliché but it keeps coming back to me. I have written about this in previous musings; about finding the light within (Musing #10), about not waiting for the deus ex machina to fix everything (Musing #18) and others, and for some reason I keep coming back to the same theme.

Because just like the old story about the little girl and the starfish, you can make a big difference in the world by starting in the small, today, if you choose to.

(If you don't know the story - in short, after a storm, people are looking down at the beach where 100s of starfish have been swept up and slowly dying in the sun, yet one small girl runs down and starts throwing them back into the water. One older man says "what are you trying to do, they are too many, you might as well stop, you can't make a difference" to which the girl simply answers "Yes, I can, I can make a difference for this one, and this one, and this one...")

The thing is, each action, each attempt to make the world better, each nudge in the right direction, is a small step towards something bigger. Every time you stand up for what's right, offer help to someone in need, or choose to do the hard but necessary thing, you are helping weave the very fabric of a just and fair society.

Actions, no matter how small, can help set an example, inspire, and if nothing else simply be the right thing to do.

The article I referenced talks a lot about how the author herself is resisting the darkness by performing small acts of good in her own community.

So I guess the question we need to ask ourselves, you and me, is; If not us then who?

Who do we expect is going to pick up the trash, rack the weights at the gym, intervene when someone is being bullied or speak up when the crowd seem to have lost its mind? Things large and small, and I will argue that everything counts.

So why don't we?

The reasons for not doing anything are many, ranging from not being bothered or caring, to not wanting to make waves or be considered the crazy one, or simply just being afraid.

Not being bothered is however not a valid excuse anymore, especially if you find yourself complaining about the state of the world. As my grandmother always said (which I also have written about before): “you either do something about it, or you stop complaining, you can’t have both”.

Either way, it’s time to start bothering, it’s time to start giving a damn.

And for all of you that have fallen down the rabbit hole of social media and think you are the center of the universe, and no one else exists as important as you, so you don't need to care about anyone else, well you and me can have an entirely different discussion about that, but put simply, get over yourself and join humanity again.

Then not wanting to make waves or not wanting to be considered crazy, that’s a valid excuse, no?

But most of the first movers are considered crazy or strange, like the 15 year old girl who sat outside of the Swedish parliament every Friday with a home made sign saying “School strike for climate”, and who since then has started the world’s largest climate movement among young people in the world.

However, if you are worried about being the first mover, then remember that it’s not the lone goon that starts a movement, it’s the first follower!

So find someone doing something worth following and follow, that’s the best way to support a movement and help grow it bigger.

Watch Derek Sievers’ TED talk “how to start a movement” for more on that one.

Then the last one, being afraid.

Well, that’s a tough one. Being afraid is a very normal and human feeling, especially in the world of thuggery and dog-eat-dog which we seem to be living in now.

If you feel you don’t have the courage to do something, then remember that courage is NOT doing things that you aren’t afraid of.

Courage is being scared but doing it anyway, because it needs to be done.

So, ask yourself now after reading this.

What if your voice, your effort, could be the starting point or even the tipping point of something?

What small candle can you light today?

After all, if you don't try to do something about it, then who will?