Hi all,
My best friend asked me today why she felt like she couldn't make change in the world. It was her dream and she locked it away at an early part of her life.
I wanted to write down my response to her because I feel like it's something that needs to be said. I know it's a lot of text but I really needed to write all of this.
---
People may say "if you dream it you can achieve it". This alone cannot accomplish anything aside from temporary motivation and self-satisfaction. I taught a leadership class for three years at a summer camp and I had to continuously repeat bullshit like "if you see it you can be it" and "if you dream it you can achieve it". Yes, it's bullshit. It's great to be motivated because how else are you going to get a damn thing done, but nothing will get done unless you move past that stage.
Anyone can say they want to make a change in the world. Anyone can dream of being a hero in a time of crisis and civil unrest, but the sad and harsh truth of reality fights back. The real world just doesn't work that way.
The real world doesn't allow for people to make a positive difference. People in positions of power make too much money from the current state of the world to let just anyone call them out. It's just not possible to be that kind of change while maintaining the moral high ground.
She then responded with "All things are possible through Christ."
Ok, for starters let's have Christ rid us of the homeless problem. The suffering men, women and children in every city across the globe who need desperately a warm meal and a safe place to sleep with a roof over their head. Then let Christ deal with the starving children in third world countries where the average life-span is barely 18.
I'm a Christian so I'm not saying this to be anti-religious. I'm trying to make one point very clear.
We can't wait around for Christ to do all of this for us. If something is going to get done, it has to be through people coming together and understanding that something is wrong, as well as knowing how to fix the problem. And to do that means people will be upset. In order to accomplish any true good permanent positive effect in this world, one needs to cross line and to make enemies. If you want to make a positive difference in someone's life, there will always be those who won't want you to be there. That person may include the one you're helping, whether they know it or not. You may have all the right intentions and be doing the right thing, but the person is being so heavily influenced by the people who want them to stay unhappy that they will think ill of you.
If you want to fight this system, you have to be bold and understand that you aren't going out there to be recognized as a hero. You won't make friends enough to balance the enemies.
This is something I face all the time. I make enemies but I do so because I am helping people around me who I want to see happy. And maybe the people around them are convincing my friend that I'm hurting them, but that's what needs to be done in order to root out the problem. It's fucked up but it's the cold reality of life.
Something I told her that I thought summed up my thoughts pretty well was the following:
If you want to be a shining star for those who live in darkness, you have to enter that darkness yourself first.
Now, don't think that this is all super depressing, because it's not necessarily sad.
The point I'm making is that you can't just look at someone and say "oh I hope that person gets better and doesn't have suicidal thoughts anymore". You can't just wish and pray the world into a better place. You can pray for guidance that your choices will be morally upright, but it's you who has to go out and physically be there making a change. And that change won't always be obvious or seem morally right, but in the end at least you will know you did what you could to influence the world around you.
--
It's 03:25 here and I'm taking this off of my text conversation I had with my friend earlier, so I apologize if it's not the most clear thing you've read on Steemit today. Thank you for reading this far and please comment with your own opinions.
Good morning/afternoon/evening/night. :)