Power of one

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We live on the second floor of our house. The drinking water is not available in our taps; we need to bring it from the ground floor. We have a big water cooler in which we prepare the cold water to drink. Usually, the men of our home bring us the water from downstairs. However, sometimes we run out of water during the day when the men are not at home.

The incident I am going to share with you happened some days ago. We ran out of drinking water on our floor. I could not carry a 25-liter water bottle from the ground floor. At that time there were four kids around me whose ages ranged between 4 years to 8 years. I told them if they want to drink water, they would have to fetch it with me. Instead of lifting a 25-liter gallon what I did was to hand out 5 liters, 2 liter, and 1.5-liter bottles to the kids. I took a 10-liter can. This way we could bring a sufficient amount of water that was not only enough for our needs but for all the other members of the family who were not there at that time.

Let’s analyze the situation. Everyone of us brought the amount of water that could fulfill his/her need; and a little more than one’s own need. In other words, each individual worked for one own self. None of us did work that was beyond our capacity. We just did what we could easily do. No burden on anyone. But what results from our small individual efforts brought? As a group, we became self-sufficient.

I have often seen people complaining about the insufficiency and bad things around them. All the time we cry for them, but do we do anything to change the situation? No, we don’t do. Why do we not do it? We have a valid reason that a single person cannot change the whole scenario. Individual effort is not likely to create a huge impact on anything; we need to perform things collectively for better results.

My question is, where does this collective effort come from? This doesn't happen overnight, Never!

We cannot deny our individual responsibilities by blaming the absence of cooperation. If we want to see the change, we have to stand up for it as an individual. No one needs to work for someone else; only work for you.

There is so much trash in the whole city. An individual cannot clean it, I know; but can an individual not clean a 4-meter area that is around his house? We are running out of forests and plants on our earth. An individual cannot grow forests, I know; but can an individual not grow one tree beside or inside his house? There are so many children around us who cannot afford education. An individual cannot eradicate illiteracy; but can an individual not facilitate a single illiterate child?

We often talk about collectivity. Allow me to coin a term "Collective Individuality". What does it mean? It simply means every individual performing only and solely his/her duties (nothing from anyone else’s job) but should be done by each individual.
Instead of crying about the lack of cooperation, we need to start individual efforts. If every individual works only of his own capacity, a collective change is inevitable.

first published on uptrennd.com