stand for change

i’ve been thinking a bit about change. change within myself. change within my community. change within the world. lofty idea, i know, to change the world and all, but i’ve been thinking about it. and i’m starting to wonder what is and isn’t my responsibility.

i understand that i am responsible for changing myself. i can make changes that will impact me. in fact, those changes have the potential to impact my community and my world as well. but i can’t make others change. and i can’t make the world change. so why do i try so hard sometimes.

when i think about some of the world’s greatest leaders, it occurs to me that they influenced change, but they never forced the change. they never made the change happen. there needed to be a willingness first on the part of that which they were hoping would change. gandhi didn’t change the mind of the british to grant india its freedom. the british had to make their own decision to do this. martin luther king, jr. didn’t change the mind of the united states to change its laws and position regarding civil rights. the united states government had to make their own decision. jesus didn’t change the mind of those who chose to follow his teachings. his followers had to decide for themselves.

too often, i try to convince. i try to persuade. i try to make the change happen. and i’m starting to realize that. it’s painful, but i need to acknowledge it. instead, i need to focus on myself. that does not mean that i sit around and do nothing. or that i make changes in my own personal life and distance myself from others – from my community or from my world. i am responsible for doing what is right.

so what does that mean? what does it mean to do right?

i think it starts by searching for the truth. without the truth, it’s hard to do anything right. we all possess an inherent sense of truth – or right and wrong. but there are also truths that we need to search for and discover outside of ourselves. or perhaps, more accurately, we need to be exposed to experiences and conversations and hardships and successes in order for the truth, that is already within us, to be revealed.

and then, i think we (i) are responsible for standing up – standing up for what we believe in. to stand up for what we believe to be the truth. when we see pain where there should be no pain, we stand up. when we see injustice where there should be no injustice, we stand up. when we see lies where there should be truth, we stand up. that is my responsibility – not to make the change, but simply to stand up. simple? not always. but easier to do than convince or persuade or force change. i can’t expect change. i can only hope for it. and by standing up for truth, at the very least, i am asking others to reevaluate. to reconsider. to think.

may my search for truth never end. may i always be changing that which lies within. and when i’m faced with anything that contradicts truth, may i always stand.