Can we really “change the world”? Can federal Volunteers really “change the world”? Why are individuals charged with the responsibility of “changing the world,” when corporations and governments could do so much more with their financial and legislative power? Why are we fed the line that charitable doings and giving stuff will “change the world,” “especially the “obligatory holiday stories that make it seem as though charity will solve the problem?” (from All You Can Eat: How Hungry is America? By Joel Berg, Seven Stories Press, 2008, pg. 223 emphasis mine.) Why are they obligatory? To make those of us who have feel so guilty about those who have not that we really have to give? If one person makes an improvement in the life of one other person, has the first person “changed the world”? Or do you have to do something more “awesome,” or “amazing,” those hot key terms right now, to be considered “changing the world”, for example, starting even more non-profits instead of perhaps strengthening those already created. There are already all kinds of foundations, organizations, fundraisers, non-profits, community action agencies, special interest groups, individuals who have created their own specific special interest groups to meet what would seem to be every conceivable need on planet earth, and then some. Everybody’s idea of how the world needs to change is also different. And then, what do we mean by “the world”? A foreign friend of mine teases me that Americans think of the United States as “the world”, limiting our scope to this country, when there are so many others out there. I don’t want to say that giving is bad, that non-profits don’t do great work, or that people shouldn’t give around the holidays or any other time. I do say that we should give this some more thought. Or rather, that some of those who have the most should give a lot more thought to it than they have done. Although, if it weren’t for those few folks, we wouldn’t be blessed with the art museums, new hospitals, and improved facilities for institutions that further the education of our scholars and improve the public welfare overall. What a choice the rich must have to make, between some peoples’ financial struggles and others’ needs for community enhancement and beautification. But that’s a topic for another blog. When you use expressions like “changing the world,” you subscribe to everything that phrase and others, whether antiquated clichés or not, means.
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