Making a Difference

It's hard to believe it's been more than a year since I posted anything here, but over the weekend I had an epiphany of sorts that seems worth documenting.

I often get depressed when I think of the overwhelming volume of things that are wrong with our world: global warming and the general destruction of the planet from the voracious appetite our species has developed for its resources. Plants, animals, oceans, habitats for species of all kinds -- they're all being cut down, tortured and eaten, and polluted and contaminated by a system we have created that seems to say, "We have been given dominion over everything on the planet, therefore we shall take what we want and as much as we want."

Sadly, that attitude, along with population growth that is out of control, promises to be our demise. As astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson said recently, we don't need to save the planet. The planet has always taken care of itself and after Homo sapiens is long gone, life in one form or another will go on. And probably be better off without us. Our planetary karma is so malevolent we might never recover.

That being said, as individuals we still need to do what we can to ensure that our lives and the lives of future generations are as healthy and fulfilling as possible. The gift of life deserves a thank-you note to all who will follow. We need to preserve the health and biodiversity of our planet because without it much of what we depend on to survive will disappear with it. Case in point: the loss of bees and other pollinators will mean many of the plants we depend on for food will disappear.

There are countless issues I could add to the list here, including the need to eliminate our dependence on animals as a food source in order to improve our health and reduce carbon dioxide emissions and the destruction of forests and other habitats for meat production. More about this can be found on my website Vegan Athlete Gardener.

Back to my original point -- the epiphany. It's easy to feel a sense of despair when you consider all of the problems we face as a species. What can I do in my lifetime to make things better? I can't reach billions of people and influence them. I can't speak to power and facilitate change. Perhaps not. But we can make a difference by example. As Mahatma Gandhi said, “If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. ... We need not wait to see what others do.”

With that, I offer myself and others this charge: be the change you want so that others can see its value and move it forward into our future. Do not wait.