It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centres of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.
Robert F Kennedy
Image:Robert F. Kennedy appearing before Platform Committee, August 19, 1964.jpg, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4524203
This is my third attempt. It’s so important
I can’t mince words. A big change will come and it will be good but it is so
big that no-one can fully imagine it.
For too long we have shambled along,
muddling by. Our great stores of wisdom, the great religions, have forgotten
their meaning and just repeat the same old patterns without knowing why. They
have been used as tribal totems, banners to fight under, when they were made
for peace. But still they gave a voice to men and women of goodwill and if their
ways were mildly eccentric it didn’t really matter.
That’s all changed.
We are so arrogant, we think we’re so
clever, as we preside over poisoned seas, polluted air, extinction of species,
destruction of the rainforest, floating continents of plastic waste, global
warming, poverty, war, mass migration and more. Faced with such monumental
challenges we indulge in our own personal grievances and petty squabbles while
nothing gets done. Time is not on our side.
We simply do not have the luxury of shillyshallying
any longer. We will have to unite. The basic principle of the major religions
is this: that if we truly care for each other without preference or prejudice,
and if we truly care for the earth and all its plants and animals, we can have
happy, fulfilling lives and there will be peace and plenty for all. That’s it.
All the rest is embroidery. If we can all come together under these principles
and set aside our minor differences, then we can start rebuilding our broken
world.
All the old arguments about whether God
exists now become obsolete. The question never made sense anyway. True belief
cannot be contained in words; it has to be expressed in the way we live our
lives. This belief-in-action is something everyone can share in. It’s simply a
question of working together for the common good.
Everyone has a part to play in making our
new world. We are all here for a reason. Some may be called to become martyrs
for the cause, there will be activists, but there will also be a need for
artists, poets, flower arrangers and people who sweep the floor. The one thing
they will all have is a belief in a better world, and a burning desire to make
it happen. They will be guided by a love of this beautiful world with its lands
and seas, its plants and animals, and all of its diverse and beautiful people.
As Robert Kennedy said: “There are those that look at things the way
they are, and ask why? I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?”
It can be done, whether in our lifetime or
our children’s or great-grandchildren’s, it can be done. The journey of a
thousand miles begins with a single step. Take that step.
Take that first step - ask yourself: What
is the unique gift that I can offer to the world? Then see what happens next.
