Below is a video that motivational speakers and preachers
are likely to copy and use in workshops and worship. It illustrates how small actions can have big
effects. It’s brief, so it won’t take
long to watch it.
Thirteen dominoes, from itsy bitsy to 100 pounds. And as the man mentions, if there were
another 16 dominoes, the 29th would be as tall as the Empire State
Building. It makes sense to simply
mention this, rather than actually go to the effort of demonstrating it. Calculating the domino effect is much easier
than testing it. He also mentions the potential energy in each domino. It's a matter of accessing that energy that brings about the chain reaction of each tumbling domino.
We live in a world where it seems that we are unable to make
much of a difference. Billions live in
poverty. Corruption is rampant. Economic and Political systems perpetuate
inequalities. Violence and hostility
often is rooted so deeply in the past that no form of justice can pay for the
harm. Disease, hunger, pollution, global
warming, oh my! Incredibly big dominoes! What can one person
do?
Perhaps in many ways the dominoes don’t line up perfectly
for us to make the bigger dominoes tumble, but should that cause us to give up,
to never try to make a difference, to walk away without making any effort? I
think that we have to remember that how we live our lives and the kind of impact
we have on other dominoes may never be realized by us—we may be long gone
before all the dominoes tumble. Besides, I cannot imagine a sadder realization
than “I could have made a difference.” I
cannot imagine a more frightening thought than at the point when I can no
longer do anything realizing that I could have done something.
I remember the first time I read the African proverb that
states: “if you think you’re too small to make a difference, then you haven’t
spent the night with a mosquito.” And if
a mosquito isn’t enough to get the point across, remember that a single
mosquito bite can infect a person with various kinds of diseases that can. Microbes!
These are incredibly small dominoes, but they have the power to tumble
the life of a human being.
A singer/songwriter by the name of David LaMotte is known
for his motto “you’re changing the world whether you like it or not.” That implies the question; what kind of
difference do you want to make? What
kind of dominoes are you going to cause to tumble?
Don't forget the potential energy that is stored up for each of us to utilize in making a difference.
© Stephen Carl
The old saying is "you can't change the world, but you can make a difference".
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