Wherever you live, whatever you do, you have an obligation.
I have to thank Seth Godin for sparking my fire with his wisdom this morning:
Wherever you live, whatever you do, you have an obligation.
- Seth Godin
I’ve been debating whether or not I would blog about the upcoming elections in the US. This dilemma has literally kept me silent for weeks as I meditated on the best way to approach the subject.
As you know, I always try to focus on the positive aspect of things but watching the campaign over the last few weeks has been a true test of my capacity to maintain my inner peace. Although I failed miserably on certain days, I came across a video of Barack Obama on Reddit that had me clapping and cheering enthusiastically this morning.
Hallelujah ! On Sept 11th 08, of all days, I really needed that positive boost. I felt so grateful to Mr. Obama that I just had to write him a letter of thanks and encouragement. I started to write and then stopped as I began to intellectualize the whole thing: Did Barack Obama really need a letter of thanks from a mom in Quebec? I felt a little silly for my overzealous enthusiasm so I left the page and clicked over to Seth’s blog to distract myself into more practical things.
Seth’s words hit me like a ton of bricks :
Is it worth doing?
What was my impact?
Will it matter in the long haul?
What sort of connections did I create?
Wherever you live, whatever you do, you have an obligation.
That’s when I realized I had an obligation to speak my mind freely and openly.
Make no mistake about it. This election affects us all. We are one planet; One family. It’s up to you and me to wake up, speak up, take a stand, and BE the change. It’s our moral obligation. We owe it to ourselves, our kids and to the rest of the world. I’ve been tip-toeing around the topic for months now. It’s time to be more vocal.
So If you’ve been putting off writing that letter of support, if you’ve been avoiding the topic, if you’ve been going around pretending it’s business as usual it’s time to DO something. Every little “peace” helps.
I sent my letter to Mr. Obama this morning. Then I wrote to Seth Godin. What is my impact ? Only time will tell. But I’m convinced that I have to keep speaking from my heart and I have an obligation to keep planting the seeds of change. I know I’m not alone. There are others like me out there. It’s time we started planning our garden together.
