Act Accordingly!

I saw a startling video clip the other day. I’ll spare you the details. The clip did make me think about how, moment to moment, we are all participants in a cosmic equation filled with ever-changing variables.

Do not assume that you have any more moments coming to you other than the moment at hand. We are guaranteed nothing. We are not guaranteed that we will wake up tomorrow. We are not guaranteed that we will die tomorrow. We have only the current moment. The next moment may come; it may not come. As your heart beats, understand that there are BILLIONS of other heartbeats on this planet. With every moment, billions of beats…some hearts beat their last, other hearts beat their first. And for so many billions, this beat is just one in a lifetime of beats.

We lose count, so they lose meaning.

Yet, each beat is meaningful! It means something to the life, to the person, it sustains. It means something to their friends. It means something to their family. It means something to a great many people. It has the potential to means something to so many more. Look around you when you walk down the street. Those are all people who can, in some way, be affected by each beat of your heart.

I know someone who can tell you the number of grains of rice they just bought to help feed others thanks to some charity. I don’t know how one calculates such things, but I go with it. There is someone who believes that neighbors can help each other through rough times. She founded ProjectNeighbor.org. I know someone who is taking great pride in helping to make sandwiches for the homeless in Washington DC. I know another who plans to Clean Coppell along with the community. These are all hearts that beat, moment to moment, just like yours and mine. They are not guaranteed tomorrow, but they plan for it anyway, and in their plans, they make time for others. These are just four examples that I heard of today.

I had a conversation with someone earlier in the week who dedicates his life to teaching young men and women. He told me about his desire to help them understand how just one person can make a difference in the history of our species on Earth. They are young teens, so they scoff at the idea. “Adolf Hitler was one person,” he reminds them. “Morgan Spurlock is one person. Do you see ‘supersized’ items at McDonald’s anymore?” He laughed. “I want them to see that one person can make all the difference in the world.” “TO the world,” I thought. To change the world, we have to change ourselves; we have to live an example so great that others can’t help but be affected. Then we’ll know we changed a life and changed the world in the process.”

You don’t have to topple an empire to change the world. You just have to give a little.

One life to another. One heartbeat to the next. No guarantees. Borrowed time. Finite.

Act accordingly!