Thursday Thoughts...

“Few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events. It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a (wo)man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, (s)he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”  

Robert F. Kennedy

One for the times perchance? Whilst we witness moments of change and hope in some places; in others we remain face to face with deception, cruelty, arrogance and meanness.  It can be hard to maintain hope, but I love the imagery within this quote of tiny ripples crossing each other from a million different centres of energy... 

And that is why we do it.  We know we don't change the world by a stroke of our pen or a sentence we construct; we get to change the world by contributing small bits to larger things. We get to change the world within our realm; within our purview; it is within our circles of friends and family and community that we get the chance to make the world a little bit better.

And then these little gatherings of hope and positivity connect and link up and who knows where it could end?

But it takes lots of persistence, lots of small acts, lots of writing, phoning and encouraging; lots of small kindnesses. 

Click here for a wee video I took on our beach in Scotland last year, with the ripples going in all directions...