Auld Lang Syne

As we welcome in a new year, we all usually like to take a moment and look back on the year we’ve had. The people we’ve loved and the people we’ve lost. The amazing experiences we’ve had, and the opportunities lost. Who we were at the beginning of this year compared to who we are at the end. This is all a natural reaction to the passing of time.

That being said, I’ve been reflecting on the changes that have happened around me over this last year. My memory being what it is, it’s sometimes difficult for me to remember who I was 12 minutes ago, much less 12 months. One thing that has changed for me is my desire to help people. I’m not entirely sure where it came from, but in the last year I started the Global Transfusion Movement (via facebook.com and now this blog). This movement’s only goal was to encourage people to be better, treat others better, and make this crummy world a better place. Now that I’ve been on this mission for almost a year now, I’m not seeing the impact I would have liked, and it makes me wonder if it’s an impossible mission. The whole “marketing strategy” for GTM was to have our members spread the word to their friends and for us to grow and make a difference that way. But with that not happening and the world around me not changing very much, it makes me wonder if it’s worth it? Is there any way to make an impact, or is this world just destined to devolve into a complete cesspool? A very disheartening approach to what I hoped to be my life’s work (outside of raising my family of course). But then I realized something very crucial to the success of my mission. I can’t change the world, but I can change my world. I can make things better for my family, myself, and the people that I affect every day. And with any luck, those people will get on board and start making a difference, but even if they don’t, that’s ok. If I can leave the world just a little bit better than it was when I got here. If I can make small improvements each day, or each year, then the world may never be a good place, but it can be a whole lot less terrible than it is now. And if all this movement, all this blog, and all this time does is make the world just slightly better, than it’ll be worth it.

“Do all the good you can. By all the means you can. In all the ways you can. In all the places you can. All the times you can. To all the people you can. As long as you ever can.” – John Wesley –