DAY 87 – A WORLD FILLED WITH MESSENGERS/ACTIVISTS

On a fateful night in 1775 Paul Revere and two other compatriots had an important role to play in human history when they became messengers. By riding from town to town telling their fellow citizens that British troops are on their way they helped them prepare to protect themselves from those troops. In addition, other fellow compatriots who heard this message also got on their horses to relay this life saving call to other people in the surrounding countryside which resulted in even more of their fellow compatriots to become ready to protect themselves.

In our ever more complex and intertwined world of the twenty-first century, being informed about life altering ideas and innovations is the first step for something new to eventually become part of everyday living. A spark has to take place where an individual person or a group of people start telling their relatives, friends, co-workers or anyone else ready to listen about it. When more and more people become messengers and they believe in the validity and beneficial aspects of an idea or innovation and incorporate it into their lives, that is when the chain reaction of each messenger has shown its true worth. This is no different than the initial spark and chain reaction that Paul Revere and his two companions set out to do and accomplished that fateful night.

Just because human beings become informed about something doesn’t mean they will act upon it. Imagine what would have happened if the warnings that Paul Revere and all the other riders set out to do would have been ignored or not believed. What would have happened if the members of those towns became spectators and expected other people to change their collective circumstances. The world before and after a profound message has been disseminated would be no different because spectators do not change the world but active participants are the ones who make all the difference.

In one way or another all of us have to be activists in order for the world to evolve for the better. It doesn’t mean that we should just rely upon protesting as the only way the world changes. It doesn’t mean that we have to try and force the changes each of us wants to see happen upon others. It doesn’t mean becoming angry at those who do not agree with our annoyances and pain. Activism means raising our consciousness to the point where we have greater awareness of what the problems are and what each of us needs to do to change those circumstances. Activism at its heart is giving our time and energy to rectify problematic situations whether they are one’s own, someone’s who we care about and know or strangers locally or in far away lands.

Looking at life we see activism everywhere. The people who start worthwhile non-profits and the people who volunteer their time helping non-profits are activists. The people who set out to right a wrong are activists. The people who send a message of support to a stranger after hearing about their plight are activists. The people who in a time of crisis that go out of their way to help their fellow human beings are activists. The person who conducts their daily affairs in ways that help the earth to become a clean and sustainable environment for all life is an activist. The person who strives to raise their children in the best way possible is an activist. The person who strives to have better interactions and relationships by treating people with kindness, consideration and respect is an activist. We may not have thought about the little things we do in our everyday lives that makes someone’s life better as activism, but the alternative of not doing those small beneficial acts leaves everyone’s life just a little bit worse off.

After thinking about Paul Revere and what he and his fellow riders did that night I now realize that on a local scale every community needs people who send out a message of hope, inspiration and insight. It then becomes incumbent upon their fellow community members to take this knowledge and become actively engaged for the greater whole that changes the world for the better.