Can one person change anything? Can You?

Recently our Pastor at Church did a series on Change and on how we can either assist or resist it.

In the Melbourne Herald Sun Newspaper on 20/1/07, there was an article on how the attitude and resistance to male Nannies in the UK has been changed positively by the negative actions of a major actor having had an affair recently with his children’s nanny, and how now many other women, worried that it might happen to them, have suddenly and warmly accepted Males as Nannies wherein the past they have strongly resisted them.

Then in the Herald Sun on 21/1/07 there was another article about how individuals by doing simple things, like not using plastic bags, using low energy light bulbs, walking or biking where possible instead of using the car, could conserve our resources and help the environment. It seems again some of the old sayings hold true! The old rule, of every little bit not only helps but all the little bits put together become one big change agent!

Having all this talk about change by just one person, in triplicate, I thought maybe someone is trying to tell me something and maybe I should look into this subject of one person being able to effect change, effectively, if not alone, certainly collectively.

A couple of points obviously jump out. The first is that it helps if that single person is someone in the public eye and thus can garner easily, public attention, even if not public emulation. Thus this type of change, like with the acceptance of male nannies can be easily seen and easily appreciated and or recognised.

Others, like with the reduction in the number of plastic bags used or the amount of electricity used, is not so easily observed or recognised, nor appreciated, but none the less is still worthy and worth doing.

Often these changes are more effective and longer lasting than some of the more flashy, showy, more observable changes.

So we see, one person, even you, can bring about large change, but that change can be good or bad depending on your own personal behaviour. Every thing you do, both big or small, impacts on others, whether we recognise it or not. For either good or bad. So what agent of change are you. Good or bad. More on this subject later: Walter