The world is a pretty intense place to live right now. It can feel overwhelming to look at all of the confusion and fear and anger and hurt around us. Sometimes, for some people, hopelessness can creep in. We begin to wonder, what can one person do to stand for peace in the face of such huge things happening in places we can't really even access, like parliament or the Supreme Court or Ukraine? There are protests and letter writing campaigns and donations, and those are all good and worthy things... but I feel like I need there to be more somehow. I thought it would be a good time to turn to better minds than mine for some inspiration.
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"Yes, there is tremendous suffering all over the world, but knowing this need not paralyze us... Worrying does not accomplish anything. Even if you worry twenty times more, it will not change the situation of the world... Even though things are not as we would like, we can still be content, knowing we are trying our best and will continue to do so."
-- Thich Naht Hanh
"Never forget that you are one of a kind. Never forget that if there weren't any need for you in all your uniqueness to be on this earth, you wouldn't be here in the first place. And never forget, no matter how overwhelming life's challenges and problems seem to be, that one person can make a difference in the world. In fact, it is always because of one person that all the changes that matter in the world come about. So be that one person."
-- R. Buckminster Fuller
"I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do."
-- Edward Everett Hale
"One person can make a difference. You don't have to be a big shot. You
don't have to have a lot of influence. You just have to have faith in
your power to change things."
-- Norman Vincent Peale
"We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference, ignore the small daily differences we can make which, over time, add up to big differences that we often cannot foresee."
-- Marian Wright Edelman
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Looking at these quotes, and looking through history, I do believe that one person just doing their best can make a difference. Even if that difference may not seem very big, many people making many small improvements can add up quickly! Of course, the entire world is not changed in a single moment by a single person acting entirely alone; it is the combined efforts of many individuals doing their personal best that creates change. Each person's effort is needed to create the shift, though, and in that sense it is one person - many "one persons" - that creates change. Even the stand out names in history books had vast support networks of people enabling them to get to that one peak moment that means that they happened to be the name someone wrote down.
But how? How can we make the best changes possible, even within our personal scope of influence? I believe our Doctrine holds the blueprint. Through the Three Tenets we learn that focus leads to knowledge, and knowledge is foundational for wisdom. Honing our focus, gathering knowledge, and developing wisdom give us the ability to live up to our Creed; to offer love, pardon, faith, hope, light, joy consolation, and understanding. Those are all great things to be able to give others, and having that amazing support would surely enable those around us to take action within their own spheres of influence. We could support each other to spread the positivity until it reaches a critical mass and history begins to shift.
But what does it look like on the practical level to love, to give joy and light and hope, to be genuinely understanding? How do I live those ideals out in my own life? To answer this, I suggest we turn to The 16 Teachings and The 21 Maxims. They spell it out for us. As an example, the first Maxim is "Prowess: To seek excellence in all endeavors expected of a Jedi." And it even goes on to tell us exactly how: "A Jedi strives to acquire greater skill and expertise in what they do at all times so that it may be used in the service of the greater good, and not for personal profit. This requires discipline, patience and perfect practice." The tenth Teaching even provides hope in much the same way as the quotes I shared above. It reads, "Jedi serve in many ways. Each action performed, no matter the scale, influences the world. With this in mind Jedi perform each action with peace, caring, love, compassion and humility. So it is that each Jedi improves the world with each deed they perform."
All that we need to do is laid out in our own Doctrine, just waiting for us to realize it. And when we falter, when we become overwhelmed and lose hope and feel that the darkness is just too dark, we have the Code. The Code brings us back to center by reminding us that deep down at the source and root of it all
There is no Emotion, there is Peace.
There is no Ignorance, there is Knowledge.
There is no Passion, there is Serenity.
There is no Chaos, there is Harmony.
There is no Death, there is the Force.
