Impact

“Let us remember: One book, one pen, one child, and one teacher can change the world.”  –Malala Yousafzai

Do not underestimate

The impact of one

Good deed or a kind thought.

 

It is like a drop

Which turns into a stream

Then flows into a mighty river.

 

Cleansing everything on it’s way

Taking with it the uninterested bystander

Into its folds with the currents.

 

Do not think

What will I alone do

When there is so much to be done?

 

Do not think

There is so much to be done

Where will I start?

 

Start where we are

With what we have

Let time decide the impact is big or small.

 

History is replete with examples of people who have gone ahead and taken action without thinking too much about the impact they alone can make. There was one Gandhi, one Martin Luther King and only one Nelson Mandela. It would not be an exaggeration to say that there is not a single soul on earth who do not know what these individuals alone had done. The impact and the tsunami they caused is very well known and widely chronicled for me even to mention it here. These crusaders, did not ponder on the revolution they might create, the celebrities they would become or the results. They simply went and did it. They were not deterred by the amount of work to be done, they did not ponder if the time is right. They just started small, with they had, where they were. There was not a single soul which became a bystander when they got in touch with the force. Time is witness to the impact they created.

When I pick a paper on the ground, or refuse to throw the waste paper on the road, I am always asked. What will you do alone? My answer is simple, I know I cannot do much alone. But I will at the very least have the satisfaction that I did not add to the problem. It just takes about ten people with the same mind set, to reduce the problem by 10%. So it always starts small and it will always start with the individual. Margaret Mead, the cultural anthropologist has said the same, very beautifully and in a concise manner.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has. – Margaret Mead

All of us are passionate about some cause or the other. Some of us are closet environmentalists, closet social activists etc etc. There are many many things in this world that we can closely associate with. The paucity of time and resources or the lack of support might be drawing us back. This post is for all those of us, including me, to start taking action, albeit small and let destiny take it’s course. We and the world will be richer for that.

 

This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.

 

 

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