I received an email this morning from a dear friend about the horrors taking place in Burma. The deadly cyclone has already killed up to 100,000 Burmese and left tens of thousands more in imminent danger of death from starvation and disease. Although the world has responded with emergency supplies and aid, the Burmese military regime is blocking all efforts to get aid to the people. Burmese Buddhist monks, prominent student leaders and others have publicly called for the UN to stop waiting for permission from the Burmese military regime. This email was a plea to click on a link that sends a letter of appeal to the Chinese ambassador to the UN to use his power to pressure and persuade the Burmese government to allow the UN to intervene and send aid immediately. .
As I read more about the disaster, both natural and political, I felt overwhelmed, completely helpless… not knowing where to start. I began to feel a separation from my world and theirs; a kind of disconnection from the reality of the people of Burma. I started to feel small, helpless and fragile. How can I help and how to start…? I clicked on the request… to try to feel like I had done something effective with the mouse and moved on. But, I was left with the feeling that it was not enough this time.
So how then? How do we start helping the world in crisis? How do we start to tackle the big problems, the massive disasters that are shown in the media every day? How do we begin to be useful and effective without bringing burdens and anger into our own daily lives?
And then, I remembered one of my favorite quotes:
“That whoever wants to move the world, first move himself.”
– Socrates
So simple and so right. Just move… start. DO what she has been trying to do in her life. All. This may sound trivial, but just the exercise of YOU moving… will start a snowball, worldwide butterfly effect.
The term Butterfly Effect derives from science. The idea is that small changes within a complex system lead to big results that are impossible to predict. So, in simple terms, the flapping of a butterfly’s wings could create small changes in the atmosphere that would cause strong winds elsewhere on the planet. A little movement here… creates a landslide there. And so it is with your actions; a small achievement here… could cause a big positive movement there.
A butterfly in the Amazon flaps its wings because it has to… without realizing its effect. We have the ability to flap our wings with a purpose. So start now… today. Put intention and focus behind your actions. Commitment to what you are doing, to what you do is the key. If you are building a house, actually build the house. If you’re teaching kids, really teach and know why you’re doing it, know what you’re creating. Put all your energy into everything you do. Even if you’re just doing the dishes, really do the dishes with a sense of purpose, a sense of the big picture. If you commit to each of your actions, you will connect with your sense of purpose. And that sense of purpose will become your wings. It starts within you. Your intention, your purpose to do good in your life will have a greater effect elsewhere. So everything you do… however small or insignificant it may seem… will have an effect.
Take a look at your intentions. Are you doing everything you can? Do you have a list of “to do” things that slip through your fingers? Have you been meaning to donate your time to a cause but just haven’t? Consider your reasons for procrastinating and begin to understand why.
Just start moving yourself. Now. And know that your sense of purpose, your wings, can make a big difference in this world.