You'll Never Change Things

"Not only is another world possible, she is on her way.
On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing."
Arundhati Roy, Indian writer & activist

I have long been a fan of Garth Brooks. Obviously he's been blessed with a beautiful singing voice, but if you've ever seen a concert of his, you know he does nothing half way. He packs a lot of bang for the concert-goers buck, for sure!

One of my favorite songs from one of my most favorite singers is "The Change". I have included the video & lyrics below. Garth came out with this song shortly after the horrific 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in his home state of Oklahoma in which 168 men, women & children lost their lives. Most of the scenes in this video are from actual news footage filmed that day.

"The Change" makes such a simple yet profound statement. In the midst of the morass in which the world seems to be engulfed now, it's sometimes hard to think that one person can make things better. Even if you try, the myriad voices around you seem to do all they can to convince you that, as Garth sings, "It's like trying to stop a fire with the moisture from a kiss". From my own personal experience, it's easy to be discouraged when you see that so much has gone undone & so much harm needs mitigating. You couldn't be blamed for succumbing to the naysayers & sinking into the "every man (or woman) for him(her)self".

But Garth's song hits the nail on the head. I believe that every small work any of us does to help another or every burden we help to make lighter for someone else probably won't change the planet. That's just the truth. When we give of ourselves in whatever way we may be able, maybe we're not doing it with the expectation of bringing great change to a weary world in desperate need of change. Maybe, in the most unselfish sense, we do it for ourselves. Maybe it helps to remind us that we're not really cynics after all. Maybe those good deeds (great & small) serve to prove to ourselves that, in spite of all that divides & separates us, we are all still interconnected. Maybe we have underestimated the value & the power of the human touch where those in need are concerned. Maybe some good deeds don't always get punished. Maybe what appears to one person to be but a small act of kindness has the potential to change the life--or least the day--of the person on the receiving end of that kindness. Maybe giving or doing what we can is our own personal way of keeping alive for yet another day the radical inside that dares to dream the biggest dreams & to hope for something more. Maybe, as Garth sings so beautifully in this song, we really "do this so this world will know that it will not change" us.

Maybe it's true. Maybe it's not meant for me or you to change the whole world, but I firmly believe that we can change our little corner of it!

Lyrics
One hand
Reaches out
And pulls a lost soul from harm
While a thousand more go unspoken for
They say, "What good have you done,
By saving just this one?
It's like whispering a prayer
In the fury of a storm."

And I hear them saying, "You'll never change things
And no matter what you do it's still the same thing,"
But it's not the world that I am changing.
I do this so this world will know
That it will not change me.

This heart
Still believes
That love and mercy still exist
While all the hatreds rage and so many say
That love is all but pointless in madness such as this
It's like trying to stop a fire
With the moisture from a kiss.

And I hear them saying, "You'll never change things
And no matter what you do it's still the same thing,"
But it's not the world that I am changing.
I do this so this world will know
That it will not change me.

As long as one heart still holds on,
Then hope is never really gone.

I hear them saying "You'll never change things
And no matter what you do it's still the same thing,"
But it's not the world that I am changing.
I do this so this world we know
Never changes me.

What I do is so
This world will know
That it will not change me.