Making a Difference
The Pen is Mightier
How can I make a difference?
I, like many others, have asked myself this question in some form my whole life. Probably first sparked by watching the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fight the evil of Shredder and his minions. Most recently, by watching a riot breach the United States Capitol building and disrupt the certification of a presidential election.
There is however, a major difference between the problems of fictional cartoon characters and the real world. It is easy to make a difference when your world is black and white, good versus evil, honorable hero versus evil monster. It is much harder to know how to help in the real world of gray ambiguity, complicated relationships, human frailty, and the intentional distortion of facts by major media outlets.
So, how can I make a difference that combines the righteous justice of my childhood heroes with the realities of adulthood?
By doing my best to put thoughtful, positive, factual, and hopeful words down in writing and sharing them with the internet. Even if my words only reach a few people, I think that fighting the negative talk coming from so many places is important, and maybe I can make a difference by putting a little bit of positive talk into the world.
It isn’t picking up my sword and fighting evil, but I think there is a saying about a pen and a sword that might just be true.
