Last week, I watched a YouTube video from Australian filmmaker, educator and outdoorsman Beau Miles in which he kayaked across Cooks River in Sydney, dubbed “the sickest urban river in Australia”. He highlighted the river’s poor condition throughout the nearly 24-minute documentary and at some points even got out of his kayak, took out a few rubbish bags and started a long process of collecting a plethora of waste that surrounded him as he stood waist deep in filth. By the end, he had collected A$46.2 (252 patacas) worth of bottles.
This made me wonder, what can one man do to help a situation seemingly much bigger than him? What difference will it make to tackle an issue that is perhaps unsolvable by just a single person.
If we look at the world as it is today, it may be difficult to see past the negatives that we are currently presented with. It might be easier to maintain a cynical point of view, especially given how certain situations can seem discouraging: a pandemic with seemingly no end, rising or ongoing conflicts, societal and environmental issues, to name a few. It may all feel hopeless, perhaps prompting some to even become desensitised to these issues. After all, what is stopping us from just riding it all out?
In the case of the video just mentioned, a river of filth that could prompt some to think that it is not even worth trying. However, one person can actually make a difference and even create an example for others to follow, just as a video of a man kayaking across the “sickest urban river in Australia” can directly or indirectly raise awareness for a viewer sitting somewhere across the globe.
Not every person has the solutions, knowledge or means to create a great change. Despite this, each person can make a choice to contribute to the efforts that go towards a greater change. Even small actions may eventually lead to a greater one. I think the most important part would be to have and maintain the initiative to change, which starts with oneself.
In the 1988 song “Man in the mirror”, Michael Jackson sang:
“I’m starting with the man in the mirror
I’m asking him to change his ways
And no message could have been any clearer
If you wanna make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself and then make a change”
There are many problems that exist today, but it is possible to offset them, even if it means doing something one thing at a time. I previously thought that it would have been pointless for one person to try doing something, but a single person can make an impact, regardless of how small it may start off being. Perhaps US author Edward Everett Hale described it best when he said: “I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do”.
Photo courtesy of Unsplash
