You've Got to Live Your Own Life
"Our life has to be our Message." -Thich Nhat Hanh
Sometimes all my efforts seem futile. I get frustrated with people who prefer to put blinders on, only wanting to see the peaceful, pleasant things, and shutting out anything that causes them discomfort.
“How can you not care?!,” I want to scream at them.
I find myself feeling powerless in the face of the ongoing evil. I understand why so many people give up, yet something deep inside me, a feeling that has been present for as long as I can remember, won’t allow me to stop trying to bring about a better world.
When I find myself totally discouraged, I stop, take some deep breaths, and remind myself that I’m on this earth to live my own life, and it’s not my place to try to live anyone else’s. They are living their own lives, and they are not requesting my interference.
Yet, I can set an example by the way I choose to live my life, at the same time realizing that others are not required to follow that example. I’m not some omniscient higher being , I am just another human being struggling along this path called life.
Of course, I can still take actions to call out what I perceive to be injustice; I can offer my own point of view in conversations and in my writing; I can take to the streets in protest; I can show love and kindness to all beings.
What is not in my power is the ability to make people change. I remind myself that I can “fight the good fight and make good trouble,” but that change often comes slowly, and that my efforts are not wasted because they represent a “moment in a movement”, and those moments add up.
Yes, I get frustrated by the slow pace of change. I get discouraged when others just don’t seem to care. But my judgement of others won’t change them. Again, changing others is not my kuleana. I can live my own life with love and compassion for myself and others, and continue to hope for change no matter how long it takes.