Small Change Adds Up

Professor J,

The point you made about the media not reporting things that don't happen is a good one. This can also be applied to those bad days that we have as individuals. I employ it a lot: I wasn't diagnosed with cancer, I didn't wreck the car, the house didn't burn down. Hell, I didn't even burn dinner!

All the women I know complain about going to the grocery. Including me. A couple of years ago I thought how that would sound to anyone who was struggling to feed their family or living in an area of the world where food, or even clean water, simply unavailable. The nerve of us to complain about abundance!

While we're pointing out positives I'll share something that I was unaware of until the past few years--the power of volunteering. I wasn't raised in a family where that was happening even though my parents were big Kennedy fans. That "ask not" and whatnot didn't seem to sink all the way down to everyday life.

So when I started volunteering after my kids didn't need me so much I was astounded. When working the polls or teaching adults to read or leading tours at the art museum I discovered an army of people doing good and helping all over the city. I often talk to fellow docents at the museum and learn that they are also helping at the animal shelter or that they have a prison ministry. Many of them are in their seventies and going strong to help in their communities! Now that I pay attention wherever I am, I realize that a huge amount of things that people enjoy in cities like walking trails, museums, and parks are maintained and kept going by volunteers. And all those small things add up. One more child tutored. One more piece of trash picked up. One more vacant lot reclaimed.

Here's an example: In an inner city community in Memphis there is a purple house flanked by two vacant lots. Those lots and the house, previously abandoned, have been made into something vibrant and healthy.

The house used to be boarded up:

This is what the area looked like this week.

Here are a couple of articles about how this happened: Art Garden Grows in Binghampton

 Community Building: Art garden rallies children, families around neighborhood improvement

When the bad news seems overwhelming we can't forget that one person really can make a difference and that the little miracles matter.