For the next couple weeks I will be posting the Gratitude Journal prompts that are being given to my students and my response post.

I grew up in a time when we were definitely told that we could be anything we wanted to be. Astronauts were landing on the moon, new inventions were being created every day and “our way of life” looked like the future for the world. It was definitely a time of change. But then what happened? I’ve gotten criticized before for making the observation that all of the potential for change of the 1960s & 1970s seemed to get lost or abandoned by the excessive behaviors of the 1980s, but that’s a train of thought for another time. 

“Be the change you wish to see in the world…” That has to look so different from the point of view of a 60-something versus the idealism of an eleven-year-old. I know too well, after all these years, how easy it is to look the other way or be “too busy” when I don’t want to deal with the “difficulties” others might be experiencing around me. I’m pushing back a little because “be the change” is making me feel like it’s all on my shoulders and my shoulders are already tired. I do want for there to be a better world, but more so for my son and granddaughters, knowing that my time to “change things” is much closer to ending than any kind of beginning. “Be the change…” There’s always more room for kindness and focused time with others. But right now, my well feels very dry and in need of some renewal. “Be the change,” okay, okay, but, just this one last time… 

How about you? What does “Be the Change” mean to you?