Making the small differences in the world...Does what
one does to make the small change really matter?
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Introduction; The Problems and Where They Lie

There are many big issues happening in the world, regarding poverty, disease, human rights, animal rights, environment, and many others.

There are many people who act upon this to help improve them, but there are also people who don’t believe in small changes because the problem is too big, and often criticize those who try.

Deal with it, some would say. That’s how the world goes. There’s nothing we can do about it.

It is agreeable that life, to some extent, stinks. However, “dealing” with a situation does not necessarily mean remaining passive and watching the problems grow; this does not solve anything better either.  

The problem does not simply lie in the problem itself, the causes of the problem, or the size of small efforts, that makes the problem seem impossible to solve.   
It lies within the people as well, which makes issue so hard to deal with.




People Who Don’t Believe In Changes

To be fairly honest, most of us have other things put into priority before the big issues. Therefore it is true when others say, “we are not doing enough,” though we probably don’t have much choice.  

Even if we engage in, perhaps smaller, participations, some still disapprove by saying, “well it’s still not enough.” There are approximately two types of non-contributive people; one, those who just simply don’t believe in changes, and two, those who don’t believe and want to criticize such efforts.

Note the importance in that people who just don’t believe in such small changes are not necessarily “bad.” Perhaps their apathetic behaviors may be target of criticism, but it’s just their opinion.  

The others, however, while keeping the similar opinion as the apathetic ones, try to bring down those who show concern about the problem. It’s acceptable to disagree or not care, but where is the actual wrong for such attack in response?

“You are not doing enough,” those who oppose would ridicule, regardless of the intention of the effort, simply because in their perspective it seems pointless, indicating that unless it’s a huge movement, such as riots and other explicit and extreme participation, it will not change the situation, or that, it’s useless to do something about these problems because they will always exist; “You are going to go nowhere with this”




The Math Equation Perspective

Bad things happening will always exist as part of life. That is the undeniable truth we all need to deal with. And it is a common sense that big changes will not be evident unless a significant action is taken.

But alas, our world doesn’t work like math equations. Even though the above statements may be true, they aren’t the only factors or equations that make up an answer. Not to mention that the answer is never definite. So even if the undeniable truth of persistent chaos is well, undeniable, that’s not the only way to approach something.

For an example, there is the undeniable possibility of me getting sick, and one of the causes is germs.  In a simple math equation, or in cause and effect theory, I can conclude that if germs cause sickness, then I must destroy or avoid the germs. Well, germs are kind of hard to get rid of or avoid completely, but it’s a definite analysis and solution of a situation.


However, that’s not how our world works. I could keep myself healthy in various ways.  
So there is no definite solution.  Perhaps in a very complicated equation(s), it would produce an exact answer of how the world works, but the point is, there are many ways to go about a situation.
Therefore doing big things to make worldwide changes is not the only answer.   




Direct vs. Indirect action against the issue

Referring back to the example of the undeniable possibility of being ill, there are also different types of various ways that I could go about the issue.

Direct action: Prevent the germs from infecting my body, by killing or avoiding germs.  

Indirect action: Maintain a good health and immune system. This doesn’t stop the germ from infecting my body, but I can stop them from taking further actions.

People don’t always have to directly fight against meat factories that abuse animals; they could also just reduce meat demand by eating less meat. People don’t have to be doctors to go and help those in Africa; they could simply donate some money for medical funding.

Either way, direct or indirect, eventually contributes to making big differences.    



Do small changes matter?

Whether the changes or efforts are small or big, they can all lead to some answer, like how both direct and indirect actions work.

Here is a simple equation as an example.
4 = 4; the number on the left has same quantity as the number on the right, so they are equal.
So it’s okay to say that these two numbers cancel out. 4 – 4 = 0. Also 4 + (-4) = 0, the addition of a positive number and a negative number of same quantity will cancel out.  This represents the perspective of a person who likes to think definite.

For an example, if somebody loses some amount of water in his body (negative), he must drink that much of water (positive) to reach equilibrium. Well what if the person took small sips at a time? It eventually adds up to the same amount.   

Here is the same equation, but a bit different.  

1 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 4; 1 is a number smaller than 4, yet the result still comes out to be 4. Why?

Like said before, there is no definite equation of how things work, or definite factors that make up an answer. What some people don’t realize is that a big thing can be also made out of many little things.

Big changes can be made by many little changes too.



The Cycle of Life

Most people know that the cycle of life involves both good things and bad things.
Therefore big issues, such as animal cruelty, issues with human rights, pollution, and deforestation, play some role in cycle of life. So keeping that understanding in mind, some people tell others to deal with big problems as a part of life that no one can change.

That is the sad truth. Bad things will always be part of life.  But so are the good things.

There is a reason why the world sustains some equilibrium, so to say that there is a balance of good and bad (e.g. the world has not been completely obliterated yet). That’s because even though there is the bad against the good, there is also the good against the bad.

If these people think efforts to change unavoidable things are useless and pointless, they don’t realize that such effort happens in everyday life too, not only in big scales.  Even little thing as not catching a cold is the body’s effort to fight off the unavoidable bacteria in the air. The risk of being ill is something that will never change in this world, yet, somehow we manage not to get sick as often.  

What is different between these daily issues and the huge worldwide problems?

The only difference is that big problems require more power and time. So what is so wrong about trying to do something about these big issues? Nothing. It’s just due to the difference in size scales, it looks ridiculous, but nevertheless, it’s an effort for betterment.




Making The Difference

There is nothing wrong with fighting against a powerful problem, or contributing seemingly only so little.
Because big problems are supposed to require a lot of time to fix. People can’t just conclude that only visible changes are what really mattered.

Big successful differences are supposed to take a lot of time, effort and patience. They can’t just expect good efforts, whether big or small, to magically solve the problem in a noticeably short time.
Small changes may seem worthless, but they are all part of the lengthy but effective process of making the huge difference.




A Question Some Should Ask Themselves About

Perhaps the people who disapprove and give other bad influences are part of cycle of life too.  Perhaps they will not change their minds. But whether so negative or not, it’s a respectable perspective.

Perhaps they will keep pushing everyone back and don’t take partial blame for not being able to move forward. So I guess we should deal with the fact that some people cannot be convinced enough of what good things others are trying to accomplish.

But they should at least keep this one thing in mind.
Instead of only questioning others, “do you really believe that this will change anything?” because they believe that these small efforts for changes are pointless and not enough, why don’t they also ask themselves, then what are they doing?



Change your thoughts
If it’s still difficult to be convinced that these small changes are comparable to the larger problems, then instead of just understanding the solutions, we must understand the problems as well.

We sometimes don’t realize that these big problems grow gradually, at an atomic scale. Due to the fact that we only seem to recognize the problem once it turned into a big mess, the growth of the problems seem so fast.

When one causes, or at least lets, the problems to grow worse, the problems do grow fast, not because of that one action, but because there is so many of us. Perhaps if there were only 100 people on this planet, the problems would grow relatively much slower.

However, if that were true for the growth of problems, shouldn’t it be the same for the good changes?
The reason why we don’t seem to move on, is not because we could “do only so little”, but because while we all pile up the mess every day, we often don’t clean it in return, because some don’t believe and believe that the cleaning part is “useless”, or is unable to acknowledge what effect it makes.  

We are not the anonymous beings on this planet. Whatever is caused here, will connect back to us. Problems don’t just pop out.

The point is: Yes, that means we are the poisons that cause these problems.  But also the antidotes as well.




Conclusion

Some people don’t see or acknowledge the existence of problems, but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist. And even if they weren’t convinced enough of how big or small these problems were, at least they should still do what is right, no matter how small their contributions are.

The primary reason why our world is not improving may be because of…
People’s beliefs that what they do is too small…times a couple hundred thousand or more.
What people need to realize is that…they aren’t the only ones who think like that or not do anything. So not doing anything does take an effect, because there is so many of us.  

But if that statement could be flipped around, it would mean that doing something will matter, because there is so many of us. We are the poisons, but also the antidotes.

Nobody, and nobody should, is asking or forcing you to sacrifice you life, your precious time, to join a protest, numerous organizations, or anything intense or undesirable. After all, the damage we each contribute or let happen is very tiny.

We only need to pay back so little. If you killed a thin slice of one tree by wasting a piece of paper, then you can pay back by recycling one. The problem IS big scaled, agreed. But they are all clusters of little problems, as little as one person not putting trash in to the bin.

Well, so are big changes. They are all clusters of little good deeds, as little as donating a dollar to a charity. Whether you believe in small changes, don’t care, or are against the efforts, at least know all of this by heart, but not because you are told so or because there are thousands of posters and campaigns about them out there.

Know this by heart, not just that the problem exists.

Know by your heart, that this is not impossible.

That there is something you can do.

That you and everyone else do play a part in making a big difference.

That you may not make the whole change, but we can.

Be knowledgeable. Donate a bit of your time and energy. Spread the words. Influence others. It’s all you need to do to make the change.

It’s a small thing we all can do to make a huge difference.

Make the change.