Making a Difference – Stepping Outside Your Comfort Zone

Robert Louis Stevenson is quoted as saying “Do not judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant.” We all strive to live good lives. We go to work, earn our money and provide for our family. In return we harvest the results — we live in nice houses and have possessions we treasure. We all have our immediate little world, in the protective bubble we live in — we look after our own.

Our Security Bubble

This little bubble is amazing. It is our security blanket for life. It protects us against anything! It is our armour plating protecting us from the bad stuff — we watch the news and when something bad happens (as is often the case on the news!), our bubble mellows down the fear and numbs the sadness. It wards off anything unpleasant — children in Africa — too far away, global warming — It will not make a huge difference if I do not recycle. If we just put our head down and get on with life, we are fine. It does not affect us. We shut our front doors and leave the unpleasantness outside.

Inspirational People

Bob Geldof — horrified by scenes of starving children in Africa came up with Live Aid — 16 hours of music for charity. This was followed by a group of musicians who wanted to raise awareness of global warming — they devised Live Earth.
Martin Luther King — one man who was not afraid to stand up and express his views on equal rights.
Princess Diana — she sat on a dying persons bed and held his hand. This one compassionate act set out to change our views on HIV and AIDS.

These are all truly great people who wanted to make a difference — they are great because of their actions. They went out there and did what they felt they had to do! As a result they have raised awareness and really made a difference.

Pay It Forward

I do not know if any of you have seen the film Pay it Forward. If you have not I recommend you get a copy it is truly inspiring. It is based on the book by Catherine Ryan Hyde and it is about a young boy called Trevor, who is set an assignment at school “to think of something to change the world”, and make it happen.

His idea is to help 3 people do something big, something that they could not do on their own. Rather than thanking you, this person then pays it forward by helping another 3 people, and so on. He is really aiming it at his teacher, mother and himself, but quickly it spreads as people pay it forward. If those first 3 people paid it forward to three others, and each subsequent person paid it forward to three others — if this happened daily, by the end of two weeks that would be over 4 million 7 hundred and 82 people.

How great would that be?! How great would it be to set that idea into action! Well, why not? What is stopping us? You do not have to be great or famous to make a difference. Making a difference starts with each of us, as individuals. A wise person was once quoted as saying — “Nobody can do everything, but everyone can do something.”

What We Can Do

Make it a daily goal to do something — something however small it may be: