Lately, I have spent a great deal of time reflecting on my time working at a local CAC. Days when I sat where those I now work on behalf of sit every day. I remembered spending many days wondering if what we did really mattered, did the small amount of time we spent each day, change the lives of those we were fighting so hard for.
It left me with this thought… “Does a Second Really Matter”
A second is something that often goes unaccounted for in today’s world. Many watches no longer have second hands, truth be told most of us no longer wear watches but instead use some technological device to tell us what time of day it is. Typically, seconds are referred to as the things that make up minutes, the minutes we spend chasing. Often times you hear others say if only I could have 5 more minutes, or just a minute more. You don’t hear if only I could have one more second. So that would leave one to believe that the second no longer matters.
I however, would argue the contrary. I have spent my life working in places that challenge that very thought. We certainly make small decisions every day in seconds, decisions about one cup of coffee or two, or three, or let’s be honest four (we’ve all had those days). These decisions are made in a second but what about the decisions that truly impact our lives. Do we make decisions that impact us and the world in a second?
How many of you have seen the person on the corner with a sign outstretched? The mom or dad in a store with a child screaming and the poor parent appears to be on the brink? Have you seen the look of hopelessness, loss or despair in the another’s eyes? A child searching for a sign of love? I would be willing to say that those people surround you every day and these are the questions that come and are answered in a second….
Should I stop and ask if I can help, should I smile, should I say hello, should I roll my window down to offer a few dollars, do I have time, should I care?
As I look around our world through the eyes of my life, the eyes that have been witness to so much what I see in our world is fear, loneliness, despair. The people who float in and out of our lives are seeking kindness, grace, hope, courage, faith and love. Each second we are given is a second that we choose to bestow one of these gifts or withhold it. The second now seems to be growing in its importance…
Today’s world seems to lack love and in its absence people have grown to not trust it. Love for many has been withheld for so long that that foundation for it must be rebuilt, we must teach it again. So where do we begin? Often people do not move out of fear. Fear that is voiced with reasons why we shouldn’t act: I am sure someone else will stop, I don’t have time, I am sure they have called someone, I don’t want to make them mad, or just what will happen if I do act. Therefore, we begin with courage, by moving in courage we show others that people do care. Our courage teaches and fuels kindness. Through acts of courage and kindness we begin to fuel hope. Hope in your fellow man, your community, hope for the world. Hope slowly fuels faith. At first that faith is in the individuals around you but slowly it grows to something far greater. A world that no longer seems so empty, a world that seems good. Through each of these: Courage, Kindness, Hope and Faith we begin to build a foundation of love.
So, who can change the world? We can! How long will it take us? Just a second really. Each decision we make changes a life, no matter how small, it touches and changes the course of another being’s life.
All that is left is simple, you must find courage every day to move, courage to speak up, courage to never give up. It won’t always be easy, the bricks in our foundation must be laid over and over again to ensure it is solid. We must remember that we don’t know everyone’s story and if all they have known is the darkness we must remember how hard it would be to trust the light. What will do you do with the 86,400 seconds of each day? Better yet, what will you do with the remaining seconds of today?
