A month or so ago I came across a quote on the Internet. I forgot to note where, or who the source was. I didn't even write the exact quote down. But the idea rang out to me, and stuck in my head. I have the quote, paraphrased, posted outside my desk at work.
No single raindrop believes it is responsible for the deluge.
Every action (or non-action) has a consequence. There is a huge amount of water in the world. But is that any reason not to conserve? It is finite—after all. Whenever corporate money is wasted, it impacts the ever-popular bottom line, which justifies why there isn't money for raises.
Every light left on uses electricity. At least in the U.S., the majority of our electricity is coming from fossil-fuels, predominantly coal. Your electric bill probably comes with a statement (yearly or more often, I think I get one quarterly) of what percentages are coming from what. I think coal was 85% in Suburban Chicago. Coal isn't the most ecologically friendly power source. The more electricity you use, the more pollution there is in the world. If you use less, then less is created, and therefore less of the waste product. Maybe the difference in the end is small. Just a raindrop. But it's there.
Look at elections. How many people don't vote just because they don't believe that one vote matters? I think at least in Florida, they all matter. Some people don't vote because they don't believe there is a "good" candidate to choose. But on the other hand, all those uncast votes are still votes. When you don't vote you're checking the box that says, "I don't care, do whatever you want." If the actual majority isn't voting, and doesn't care, why do we even have elections? There are countries struggling to even have a vote, and we don't seem to care. If you don't normally vote, I urge you to go this one time, write me in as King, and I'll make sure you never have to worry about voting again. Fair enough? Isn't that basically what you're already doing?
You are responsible for everything in the world that you are unhappy about. If you get a defective product and don't complain to the company, you're telling them that you don't mind paying for defective products. If you buy from companies that use sweatshops, you tell those companies that you endorse their use of sweatshops. If you use coupons you tell stores that price matters to you. You vote every day. You express an opinion with every action, or every inaction.
I'm not saying we should all devote every moment of every day to causes. We have to pick our battles. But when an opportunity comes along to matter, shouldn't we take it? Vote. Don't be wasteful. Don't live beyond your means. Don't lie. Don't simply accept things you don't approve of. Speak up. Matter.
Single raindrops are at the very beginning, throughout, and at the very end of every flood, of every rainstorm.
And they all make a splash.
Why can't we?