Yesterday I posted a link to a short youtube video of a man showing the incredible power of starting small, but still making big changes.  He lined thirteen dominoes up, starting with one he held in tweezers and ending with a domino weighing 100 pounds.  He knocked over the little one, which fell against the next one, which fell against the next largest one and so on until the 100 pound domino fell over with a loud crash.  He explained that if he had a total of 29 dominoes, only sixteen more, the last one could be as tall as the Empire State Building in NYC. 

I went on to use that to illustrate how we each can make a difference in the world.  The man in the video did mention that part of the equation of the dominoes was the potential energy of each domino standing on its end—the energy used to lift it was stored in it, waiting for something to knock it over.  This idea of stored or potential energy is a very important part of our making a difference in the world too. 

Where is the stored energy, the potential energy of big social, political, economic change?  I believe it is stored in each person and collectively amazing change can occur.  For example, think of Millard Fuller who started Habitat for Humanity—he’s been used a lot to inspire people to get involved and make a difference in the lives of others.  He had a simple vision—to build adequate housing for those who are unable to afford interest payments to invest their own energy, time and then money to pay off, combined with the energy, time and contributions of volunteers.  He could have rallied a small group of people and accomplished a house or two.  He could have pushed over a small domino, but instead he saw the Empire State Building of Need and the stored energy of people who wanted to make a difference and he got to work. 

As a person of faith, it is my conviction that God create us to be batteries (warning: do not push the metaphor beyond its intended illustration).  We are stored energy and as we grow up, more and more potential energy is added through education, the power of imagination, and especially the love we receive.  

There’s a lot of stored energy in our lives—including financial as well as time and talent.  Tapping into that stored energy in ways that channel it effectively toward knocking over the next largest domino is part of the passion and vision necessary to make the big kinds of changes needed in our world.  There’s stored energy in intellect and curiosity when a scientist works on a problem and figures out a solution; there’s stored energy in undiscovered scientific breakthroughs that are often exposed by accident and then channeled by a dreamer who sees a need and a potential solution. 

Not everyone is going to be the small domino that starts a cascade of power to make change, but everyone can be a part of the released stored energy, a part of the bigger dominoes that are used to move the next big domino.  Thinking you have nothing to offer is giving up without trying, without making any effort.  A financial gift makes a difference, an encouraging word makes a difference,  a vote makes a difference, a phone call makes a difference, a letter to a politician makes a difference, swinging a hammer or using a paint brush or picking up trash or delivering a meal or providing a ride or…the list is nearly endless in ways people can make a difference, even a small one.  Who knows what your little effort may set in motion. 

Millard Fuller didn’t rise out of the earth completely isolated from all other influence.  Some domino fell against his heart in a way that motivated him to do something more with his life, with his stored energy. Some unnamed person or persons influenced him in ways that left him restless when he saw so many people who struggled in a system that required more than they had to participate in owning a home.  You may not be a Millard Fuller, but you could be the domino that gets the next Millard Fuller motivated. 

© Stephen Carl