Want to change the world? Start in your neighborhood.

“Is it true that in America there are so many sweets they line streets and everyone can pick them up and eat them whenever they want without ever paying?”

The question was posed to me on my last night in Zana by a girl in her early teens. We had just finished playing our tenth round of Jenga after eating super together. It took my friend Levi and I a couple of minutes to explain that yes, in the States there are sweets aplenty—far more than we should eat in a lifetime—but we do have to pay for them.

After saying our good byes a short time later, I returned to my room to finish packing. I found myself still mulling over the girl’s question. It wasn’t the first put to me regarding the wealth of America, and though we were getting ready to fly home, it wasn’t the last either.

A matter of perspective

It doesn’t matter who we are, or where we come from. Each of us is subject to our own perspective. It’s the lens through which we see the world, and is largely shaped and formed through our own experiences.

Sometimes those perceptions end up being a little cloudy.

One of the most common misconceptions I discovered while in Uganda was that in America there are no troubles. We all live in mansions, wear the latest fashions, hook up with the first beautiful person we see, and drive the most expensive cars. When many hear “American” they automatically think “money.” And by money they mean no hardship, no harm, and no heartbreak.

In America life is perfect.

I won’t argue we have it pretty good here — far better than many of us realize. But all I have to do is drive down my own road to see that we also have hardship, harm, and heartbreak just like the rest of the world.

On the street corner stands an old man. His jacket threadbare, his greasy hair slicked down by the cold drizzle. He isn’t holding a sign, but the haunted expression in his eyes cuts me to the core because I’m as powerless to help him as I was to offer long-term care for the people I met in Africa.

I don’t know what misfortunes brought him to this place. Was it a series of poor choices? Has he, like me, been unable to find permanent work? Is his spirit completely crushed, or is there yet a tiny ember waiting for a gentle breath to touch it and create a new flame?

Coming to a new understanding 

Before I left for Uganda a number of people told me how much they admired me for giving up time and comfort to share with complete strangers in another country. My first day in Zana the same thing was said of our group and I felt a twinge of guilt. At the time, I wasn’t sure why. All I knew was I didn’t feel that I was making a difficult sacrifice by being there. For me it was a privilege and an honor.

Now that I’m home and have had time to think, I believe I figured out what bothered me. We view it as a noble thing to take our charity across borders, but how often do we carry it across the street? We donate towards food and education for starving children in third-world nations (and rightfully so!), but how many in my own community are going to bed with an empty tummy tonight?

While the poor of the world are pitied, so often here in the US they are scorned. I discovered that for myself at a young age and spent my entire young life vowing to escape that stigma. It took traveling abroad for me to realize how backward my thinking has been.

When asked what the greatest commandment of all was, Jesus responded: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all of your mind. And love your neighbor as yourself.”

Putting that knowledge to work

For too long my perspective has caused me to look overlook the needs of those nearest to me. Like my sweet-loving teen I’ve seen America as the place were we have all the means necessary to take care of ourselves without help from anyone else. We just have to make it happen. Those who don’t do so bring their misfortunes upon themselves. I’ve learned for myself this past year, that isn’t always the case.

Rather than being part of the solution, I’ve been part of the problem. And this is something I have to choose to change in myself. What does it matter if I travel the globe aiding others while ignoring those hurting in my own hometown?

One thing I learned in Uganda was the most valuable gift you could give anyone is your time. Even if I don’t have a spare penny, I do have a smile and a kind word to remind even the poorest drunk that he is a person of value. He is not forgotten. And he is never truly alone.

Our choice: Rise to greatness or wallow in mediocrity

“It is in the nature of man to rise to greatness if greatness is expected of him.”  —John Steinbeck

These words greet me twice a week as I prepare to push myself in physical therapy. Though a lot of energy is going into keeping track of reps, making sure each of my muscles are in proper alignment, and focusing on breaking past the mental block of anticipated pain, this quote still finds room to rattle away in my brain; as do all the other inspirational quotes and pictures of world-famous athletes surrounding me.

This week I happened to look at my bookshelf after returning home and realized Steinbeck had it right. Each story I cherish begins with ordinary people who became heroes because they recognized there was something they had to do, and that the fate of their world depended on it.

Bilbo Baggins chose to join a quest so quickly he forgot his hat and handkerchief at home. He went head to head with a dragon and lived to tell of it. His nephew decided to take on the task of destroying the ring Bilbo “won” in a game of riddles. He lost more than his finger, but more than his life was saved.

Pastor Dedrick Bonhoeffer set aside his life in order to stand opposed to the evil he saw coming out of the leadership of the Third Reich. He was executed just before the Allies freed Germany, but his life continues to inspire and the writings he never “perfected” impact countless lives each year.

And little Hellen Keller learned she didn’t have to have sight to see or ears to hear. Instead, with a little help from Anne Sullivan, she found a way to live vibrantly rather than wallow forever in the dungeon of “Life’s not fair.” And our world is a better place because of it.

Whether real or created, each of the individuals represented on my shelves captured my attention and admiration because they chose the path of the impossible, recognizing there was no other way to move forward in their lives.

That’s when it occurred to me: If it’s in the nature of man to rise to greatness when greatness is expected, then the reverse is also true.

It is in our nature to wallow in mediocrity if mediocrity is all that is required of us.

I’m not sure why it is that way, but so many of us, myself included, can be trapped into believing we have nothing of value to offer the world.

We’re not educated enough. Not attractive enough. Not driven enough. Not bold enough. Not strong enough….

And so like John Watson at the beginning of the BBC pilot of “Sherlock,” we sit in a chair and sullenly state, “Nothing ever happens to me.” Little do we understand that is only true so long as we allow it to be.

Is there an opportunity waiting on your doorstep today? Is a little choice knocking that has to potential to become a great adventure? Let’s stop hiding in the pantry chewing on the food of discontentment and mediocrity and throw the door wide open!

Yes, the road to greatness is filled with hurdles, hurts, trials, and disappointments. But there is a payoff at the end.

On the other hand, the cupboard of mediocrity houses only discouragement and regret.

A Declaration of Conviction

“…Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.” –The Declaration of Independence

When thinking of the document that marked the beginning of our nation, our minds often bring to the forefront the Continental Congress’ declaration of certain inalienable rights: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. We forget about the weight of responsibility, the careful consideration of intent, and even the evidence of men wrestling with an impossible choice that colors each and every word on the page.

The Echoes of Conviction

As I read through the Declaration of Independence in its entirety again this morning I was struck by the power of a conviction so strong it is still palpable after more than 200 years. These men had come to a difficult decision, they made their case before God and men, and although they were ready and willing to do what they saw they must, you can feel the ache of sadness and the overwhelming desire that the situation did not warrant the course of action they were about to embark upon.

I can’t see the Founding Father’s faces. I will never be able to interview them on their thoughts as they drafted, penned, and signed such an explosive document. And I don’t need to. Everything I need to know is already on this page.

Which left me wondering: Should any of my writing survive centuries into the future would my words capture the depth of my convictions, or would they simply be letters on a page?