Seize the Moment: Make a Difference

“A teacher affects eternity, he (or she) can never tell where his influence ends.” –Henry Adams

I see it in the flushed faces of children, talking in great bursts of energy, flinging their arms in the air. They are painting smooth river rocks with the name of their favorite presidential candidate.

Photo by Mike Stinson

I connect with a retired nurse who said “My heart is just broken and burdened for this country.” Kathleen realized the importance of honoring those who have died from Covid-19 and organized a national collective mourning time. Honor. Hope. Heal.

I witness the perseverance of Rex for keeping on, believing in the sanctity of the human spirit and promoting fairness, working with love towards restorative justice at a state penitentiary for men.

Seizing the moment and using your creative influence to make the world more just, help it heal, and serving others can happen at any age, at any time. During the Depression, my thirty-five year old grandmother delivered food baskets to neighbors in need in spite of her husband warning her “we don’t have two dimes to rub together.” Yes, trying to make a difference in the world comes at a price. Being socially committed often creates divisions within family members and between friends. Commitments are labor intensive, and require that you are willing to have your heart broken again and again. Finding room in your life to supporting a just cause, or simply trying to do your part in making the world a better place, means facing disappointment, being labeled by others, and ignoring, at times, your own desires and wants. They require selflessness.

When the usual shout-outs—pleading letters to newspapers and calls to officials—didn’t work, Sarah, teacher, professor, activist, took a stand. She wanted to change the mind of our state official who is the only governor during the pandemic to withhold distributed federal funding from those in poverty. Using her magnificent and creative powers of persuasion, she uses satire as a weapon against what Sarah calls oppressive rule. Dressed as Marie-Antoinette in full Parisian gown and wig who was reported through her lavishness to ignore a food shortage in France, Sarah pantomimes and carries the sign “Let them eat cake,” credited to Antoinette. Play acting in several public places at the state capital, Sarah stands for many when she says “I will be Marie Antoinette and remind us of French Revolution parallels EVERY DAY in public theater.”

It takes a leap of faith to step outside our comfort zones. We must believe that we have the power to make a difference. To do the work faith must be present. Faith in something yet unseen–faith in your personal strength and courage, faith that there is something bigger than us. It’s a quest for an idea—the search for a light or truth, a kind of beauty that radiates, transcends. And a quest for hope— for a better future for others and the world we live on. – Becky Breed

Writing/Creativity Exercise:

1. Regardless of what your career or age or political persuasion are, you can make a positive difference. You are making a difference. Believe in yourself. You don’t know where your influence will end. Now, consider writing about someone who influenced you who wasn’t aware she was doing so.

2. Or, think how you might use your creativity to seize the moment. What can you do to lift a spirit, participate in a movement, heal the world, rise up for someone?

For more information about Writing in Community and The Writing and Creative Life, see http://www.thewritingandcreativelife.com.