Be First, Do Later

This writing has been hanging around my desk since November (2005), patiently waiting to be finished.  It seems to be calling today – I guess the time has come to get on with it!  And that statement alone speaks to much more than just this passage!

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“Be the change you wish to see in the world” – how often have we heard these inspiring words.  I remember reading them for the first time on the whiteboard in a grade 2 classroom.  There was something magical about these words I connected with immediately.  Now, several years later, I see an even deeper meaning because of one subtle difference.

The instructions indicate to “BE the change I wish to see …” although until this point I have miss-interpreted this to mean “DO the change I wish to see …”.  Oh how I can count on endless fingers and toes the times I get caught up in the often times tangled web of DOing. 

Sometimes I am frozen from taking any action because of “perfect passion pressure analysis” (my label).  What if I fail or do it wrong?  What does that say about my passion?  What if I have no passion at all?!  I spend so much time worrying about what could be, I do nothing at all.  And this act of inaction alone is failure.

And then there are times I jump in and Do until I am all Do-ed out.  In those (brief) moments when my head clears the dust I wonder what is the point of all this busyness.  Can the world really change just by putting in more and more effort until it does?  Call me lazy but it seems to me if something requires an extraordinary amount of effort and resources to change there must be an easier, more simple way.  Perhaps this way is to simply Be.

When I Be first I have clear guidance on what to Do later.  Possibly more importantly, I have clear guidance on what NOT to do.  Can I achieve peace in the world if I am combative or hostile?  Can I eliminate abuse in the world if I shame or disrespect others?  When I choose to Be peaceful or respectful first I have an internal gauge as to whether my behaviour reflects this or not.

Changing the world may seem like a daunting task but I know I fully at the controls to change my world.  And when my world changes somebody else’s world, for the worse or better, then the world just became a bigger place.  I choose for the better.

And so I must ask of myself … Who do I have to BE to create the change I wish to see in the world?