Recently I was talking to a long-term colleague about a project I’ve been developing based on this piece. He’s done some amazing work over the years for positive societal change, but admitted he’d become a bit cynical. While we were talking about how hard it can be to bring about significant change he mentioned a recent return trip to a former war torn area ~ 15 years after he had done some conflict resolution work there. “The changes that peace has brought were almost unimaginable then”.
It’s easy to get discouraged at the enormity of what needs to be done, or brush off the often told story about how throwing back only one of many starfish on the beach ‘makes a difference to that one’. We may encounter many obstacles and it can take many years; but our efforts do make a difference in ways often hard to measure. As World Bank President Jim Kim recently asked a cross-sector audience: “Are we doing all that we can do?” and “Will we be able to justify what we did (or didn’t do) to our children?” [Kim’s remarks start ~ minute 12:00; What Can We Do? inspiration at ~minute 25:35]
More inspiration from the Amazers
