The question is not ‘Can you make a difference?’ You already do make a difference. It’s just a matter of what kind of difference you want to make during your life on this planet. Julia Butterfly Hill, environmental activist/writer.
As the new year arrives, most of us begin to take stock of what we want to do differently during the next 12 months. How can we improve our health, our looks, our attitudes, our life. We want some phases of own living to change. Don’t we all plan to start out with every intention of sticking to the new regimen?
However, perhaps we need to look past our own nose to consider different ways to help others. Few of us feel as if we can really make a difference even if we have a cause.
We need to stop. Think. Reflect. Recall. Remember those who have made a positive difference in our own lives. Think about those best words of advice our parents gave us.
Real Simple Magazine, in a fall issue, asked readers for the best financial advice they had been given. Many of the responders credited their own dads for that best advice they had received. Adhering to the advice had made a difference in the way they had handled their finances.
Reflect on our willingness to be nudged into making wrong choices which hindered rather than helped us. Do we still blame others for our failures? Or have we acknowledged that we made the choice to go down the wrong road?
Recall that favorite teacher who introduced us to a new way of looking at the world around us. How many of us regret not having thanked enough those teachers who pushed us beyond what we thought possible?
Most of us, if we stop long enough to ponder, can remember actual conversations that truly made a difference. I most certainly can.
In 1970, I, as a mother of three young children, began to write features for a small monthly magazine. It seemed to take all of my spare minutes to interview, write, rewrite, edit and proof copy in order to meet a monthly deadline.
A year later, the late Pete Bailey, aware of my efforts, asked me to write a weekly column for the The Jesup Sentinel.
I was hesitant, ready to decline. “I don’t know if I can produce a weekly piece.”
Pete smiled, then said, “If you don’t try, how will you ever know?”
And so, 52 years ago, I heeded his advice. Those few words made a big difference in my life and I’ve been writing for the newspaper ever since. Certainly not an earth shaking difference as Hill challenges us to make, but it changed the trajectory of my work.
At my age now, I’ve questioned how in the world may I help someone when it seems as if everyone else rushes to help me. Not long ago, I was ready to exit the ladies restroom at Wayne Memorial Hospital about the same time as another woman, much younger than I, but aided at the time with a walker, was also leaving. I immediately walked to the heavy door and opened it wide so she could depart, a deed anyone else would have done for her. She thanked me. I’m certain that she’s figured out how to maneuver around such barriers as heavy doors, but for once, she didn’t have to. And I felt good for being able to help another person. In our own hurriedness, we need to be aware of those around us.
So I challenge all of us, as this new year begins to change our focus from total self improvement; let one of our improvement goals be to take notice the needs of others.
Actor Denzel Washington says it best. “Don’t just aspire to make a living. Aspire to make a difference.”
May we make 2024 a Happy and Purposeful New Year!
2022