The General Election has passed and we know who our governors are going to be for the next period of time (though the last few years have demonstrated how non-specific that period of time can be). You may be feeling elated that your vote carried the day for your favourite candidate – or deflated that it did not. Or perhaps you are in that other group that declined to vote because it never really makes any difference in the long run.
A little makes a lot
It can feel like our small cross on the ballot makes little difference. It can feel like our individual efforts to be neighbourly, to engage with the issues of our day, to be responsible adults in a challenging world, similarly make little odds. Mother Theresa of Calcutta was once asked what difference she thought she and her order of monks and nuns were making to the plight of the world’s poor to whom they ministered. Wasn’t it all just a drop in the ocean? She replied, “Of course it is only a drop in the ocean. But when my drop is joined to all the other drops, we are the ocean!”
We can make a difference
Every act of kindness, every positive decision, every hand reached out to support another person, changes the trajectory of our society and our world. The impact in our own community can be even greater. If a ship alters its course by just one degree, it makes little immediate difference most of the time, but as it progresses on its voyage it will eventually end up in a completely different place to its original destination. Small acts can leverage great change when combined with other small acts.
The common good
During this time of campaigning, I have been struck by some words from the New Testament. In his letter written to the Christian people of Phillipi, St Paul writes: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.” By interests, he means the best interests of others – what will do them good and make their lives better. Taking the focus off what will make us richer or more comfortable without considering what would do the same for our neighbours near and far, and making our choices on the basis of the common good would be a game-changer. Taking the bigger-picture viewpoint could be an exciting alternative to the “what’s in it for me” approach that is behind the huge promises our politicians often make to win our vote. Perhaps this is where the real power in “people power” is to be found.
Whatever the outcome of the election, we can each offer the world around us positive gifts of care, compassion, consideration, gentleness and respect. We can all take our eyes off our own ambitions and concerns for a while to focus on those around us and what they may need. We are all part of our community, for good or ill. We make the difference.
Grace and peace,
Dave Bonny
