A small corner

We are always taught to aim high, to reach for the stars and go big or go home....but how that translates into our current world which is ever changing has created an impossible situation and has created a lost generation.  A generation that can reach out in a moment and talk to anyone in the world, who can post a video or picture and be seen by hundreds or thousands of people is suffering from extreme loneliness.  Before this access, when I was growing up or my parents or grandparents, those mantras made sense because the only way to move up was to be a part of a smaller unit and make a difference.  For example, before we would have to engage in our school, neighborhood, community.... to move up to bigger things and through that making meaningful connections we found that we made a difference, was important....right where we were in our little corner of the world.  Now the ability of the internet, social media, reality tv, we see the very few skip that and rise to the top overnight....or so it seems.... followers or consumers have replaced community in those situations and the reality is there is an emptiness no one sees because it would hurt the brand and the sales.  

We were created to be in community, starting small family, neighborhood, church, club, town, city.  Truthfully it will forever be where we can make the greatest impact.  We have accidently passed down bad information to a generation who looks nothing like our own.  Instead of aim high, we need to show them to look up, aim local.  Change what you can and through that you impact so much more.  How many times do we hear news stories or documentaries where the perpetrator came from a broken home, school or community?  Could multiple people looking up and working locally have changed the trajectory of that person, or the people they hurt.  How many tears of loneliness would dry up if the young mom, newlyweds, new transplants to the area were surrounded by a community who showed up, stayed to visit and invested in their day to day life?  It's endless when you think of it....barriers of race and religion fall when you get to know the people and not the rhetoric.  Politics can be sorted out and we can see our similarities instead of our differences when it's your friend and not your follower.  

We need this generation to hear you do not need to go big...we have too many big voices getting nothing done and too few people engaged in their communities making real change for real people. I have learned the best way to feel seen is to pour into others around you. You may not be known around the world for something, but in the end you probably weren't one of the few who are statistically.  But you can impact the world by looking up and engaging and loving and talking to all those who are around you and you can change the world.