If we see it, we have to do it

It’s tempting to point fingers at the bad actors and big institutions that are worsening the personal, social, and ecological crises on our planet. Our education system, huge tech corporations, big oil, the opposing political party, and more.

And you may be right.

It can even be tempting to say that it’s all their fault and they have to fix it.

And what if you’re right again?

Because if they have to fix it, then they’ll have to change. But obviously they don’t want to change. Because if they wanted to, they would be changing already. They don’t see the need.

So why would they change?

This means that, if you’re right that they have to fix it, then we’re all doomed.

These huge institutions may have a huge amount of power, but sometimes, a small amount of pressure which is applied in the right direction, at the right point, at the right time, can influence even a huge institution to make a change.

But who is going to apply that pressure?

That would be us.

Which is why, if we want to see change in the world, we need to change ourselves to see more clearly where applying our teeny tiny bit of power could create the most leverage, to result in the change we want to see.

Which means, we need to take responsibility for making the change happen. Not because the current situation is our fault, but because we see the need for the world to be moving in a different direction.

Because it’s our response-ability to respond to the need that we see with action, not just words.