A season of change
It's time to believe in ourselves and use our voices to make a difference.
May Day is a celebration. It marks the beginning of a new month, of summer: a new season. This year let it mark another change: a season of change.
There is one similarity I have drawn between the many different types of people in my life: a lack of self belief. People in our society have a tendency to assume that their opinions, their actions, their voices don’t really matter. Not many people realise the power they possess. Regardless of the action, the persons involved or where it happens; everything has an impact. You never know what or who is going to change the world, don’t take yourself out of the running just yet!
Perhaps it is the insecurity of human nature that inclines us to trust others before ourselves. History has shown us the devastation that a single person can cause. A nation trusted Hitler; approximately six million Jewish people died. A nation trusted George Bush, a man who said "Oh, no, we're not going to have any casualties" when discussing the Iraq war, and then stated: “Six hundred thousand or whatever they guessed at is just, it's not credible” when estimates of the war’s victims were released. In our own country we placed trust in our government. Now we watch as our economy crumbles at our feet, and mourn the progress our country made which now seems futile.
Despite the devastating misplacement of trust in the past, we, in general, don’t stand up and speak out for ourselves and our livelihoods. Each of us still thinks “I am insignificant”. A wise man once said “Be the change that you want to be in the world.” That man was Mohandas Ghandi. One influential, powerful and peaceful man that believed he could change the world, and he did.
We live in an era of incredible scientific discovery, medical marvels and rapid development in almost any area you can imagine. We, the Celtic Tiger Cubs, as it is said, have access to paths our parents couldn’t have dreamed would be paved.
Even now in an uncertain economic climate our opportunities should be limitless, yet we limit ourselves. We give ourselves boundaries where they would never otherwise have existed.
It is time for us to break those boundaries and use our voices to make a difference:
- Getting involved with things such as debating and youth groups are of great benefit to you. They give you an opportunity to practise using your own voice and to develop your own ideas and communication skills.
- Simple actions, such as creating campaign groups on Facebook or on Bebo are incredible ways to get yourself heard. Even if only ten people join the group you can quickly start making an enormous impact. Those ten people tell two friends, those two friends tell two others... before you know it news of your group is spreading like wildfire.
- Who is to stop you getting involved with an existing campaign that sparks your interest, or even starting your own? Since getting involved with Concern’s “Stop Child Labour” campaign I've seen for myself the benefits you reap from the experience. Not to mention the sense of fulfilment it gives you to know you’re actually doing something, or ‘the fuzzy feeling effect’.
My point? You have options. Let this year, this month, this May Day be your chance to get active and get involved with whatever matters to you. Never underestimate the power of the individual. Believe in yourself and your ability.
After all, there’s a reason one of the best known campaigns in Ireland is called: “The Power of One.”
By: Ruth Ní Bheoláin
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