The world today faces many problems. Or rather, the global community faces many problems - the planet doesn't really care. Some of these are because people are and have been stupid: because people are biased, because people don't think about the future, because people are illogical, because people ignore evidence as to the way things are. Some of these are because people are and have been ignorant. Some of these are unexpected consequences. Many of them have been problems for a long time. None of them will be fixed quickly or easily. So how do you deal with all of the problems that need fixing?
The people most affected by this are the people who can do the least. People who can, who are doing something have at least that comfort. But those of us who have not yet the money, or the independence to make a difference - in short, children, teenagers, young adults living at home - often find themselves without an outlet for all the care we place on their shoulders. And we do place in on their shoulders. The guilt of those who have finally reached the level of influence goes into education, targeted at the young, who hear them and can do nothing but pass the message on, until their hopes are broken under the weight of all our unfulfilled prayers.
Every generation has its predicted apocalypses. But what could the everyday citizen do about the threat of nuclear war? Report suspicious happenings, vote for the right government, hope. Now, we are confronted with a world where each person, especially each person with an internet connection, can send money, or promote opinions, or actually do something to support a cause. We learn that "with great power comes great responsibility", we learn that we are rich, that we are lucky; the message is that we are responsible for fixing any problem we encounter, because we are the ones with the power.
It is overwhelming. It is exhausting. And it is impossible.
No one can fix everything. No one can fix anything. One person may be a catalyst, at most, but every substantial change in this world has started small and grown like a snowball rolling downhill until it actually makes a difference. Martin Luther King did not fix racism. No one today will fix homophobia. But change will come, because change is inevitable. It may not be in the direction we would like, but it will come.
And no voice goes unheard. No one shouts into the void; each time we say "no" the flavour of our culture shifts a little, mixes a little; each time we say "yes" we change what people expect the next answer to be. The thousands of victims ignored become a statistic which cannot be. The lives saved by thousands of small gifts will go on to change the world in little ways which cannot be predicted. It is impossible to do enough to save the world, but while you do anything at all, you cannot do too little.
I am sometimes frustrated by how little I do. Like many, I focus my attentions on one lens - I mostly ignore human rights issues, poverty, war, so that I am not overwhelmed by environmental issues, which are significant enough. I do not use sustainable sources of electricity; I use the clothes dryer and dishwasher rather than the clothes line and sink; I have a lot of things, and throw away a not insignificant amount of plastic; the food I eat is not local, organic, or produced on small farms; I am not even partially vegetarian. But I use a reusable lunch wrapper everyday, and throw out no gladwrap. I travel by train and on foot, rarely by car. I use no air conditioning or heater at home. I wear clothes twice if they aren't dirty. I have less stuff than many. I keep the lights off except after dark in my room. I recycle as much as I can. I use things until they are irredeemable broken. And I care. Those who know me, know that. And maybe that makes them care a little more. And those who know them know that. And so it spreads. And the little things I do, and the things that I think, do not alone fix the problems of this world. But a little bit of care where I can spare it causes ripples outwards that cannot be traced, or understood, or predicted, and yet they spread, and something changes.
A Piece of String: The ramblings of a philosopher (in the old sense of the word)
