It’s not about ‘me’

Assuming we do have a touch of faith (in the power of change) we should seize every opportunity to press for the changes we want to see. We can’t expect our leaders to lead us. It’s up to us, ordinary people, to repair things wherever we can. We shouldn’t doubt our own power to make a difference, and anyway the changes we might make aren’t always about ‘me’. Our chief difficulty isn’t in not knowing what to do; but in not daring to do it! When we think things through we realise that change is at least twice as hard as we first realise, if only because it’s about the interests of others as well as ourselves. There’s an altruistic element in most of the changes we need to make, if we want our changes to impact on others. Ideally we want our altruism to be effective. We want to be both altruistic and effective but they seem to be opposed. So how can we bring them together? How do we make altruism effective and effectiveness altruistic? Perhaps the answer lies in the example we set as an individual, against all odds. As we let personal example define who we are (and show how undaunted we can be) we help bring about the collective ‘good example’ that encourages others to follow. Surely this is the way to set up a self-perpetuating impulse throughout our society. By sowing seeds and encouraging this sort of altruistic growth, people-powered change inevitably happens.

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