I think a lot of the time people get overwhelmed by everything that's going on right now, and sometimes I do too. I was thinking about that the other day, and reached a place where I was trying to fold my mind around accepting all the things I can't possibly do, because I'm only human, and only one human.
In thinking this over, I remembered reading the fable of the Crow and the Pitcher as a kid. If you've never read it, a crow finds a pitcher full of water, but can't reach the bottom, so, after failing to knock it over, he piles pebbles into it until he can drink from the pitcher.
I've heard various morals for this, from "thoughtfulness works better than brute strength," to "necessity is the mother of invention," and "little acts add up." But like... I started thinking about being a pebble, rather than being the crow.
I don't have to be the whole solution. I don't even necessarily have to be the one person who finds the solution. I just have to be willing to help as much as I can and raise the water level, and help the solution happen.
I'm sure some people will say that sounds weak and defeatist or whatever, which, you know, first of all, fuck you. But this is - in all seriousness - one of the ways in which lasting change is made. Not by big singular dramatic gestures, not by one person burning themself out by somehow doing everything all of the time, but by the dogged and continual persistence of people being present and doing what they can do, over and over, raising the water line.
It's okay to be a pebble. It's okay to raise the water level a little, in concert with all the other pebbles, and get your comrade a little drink of water. Do what you can, when you can, the best that you can, and find your peace with that.
It's okay to not do everything.
It's okay to be one of a hundred pebbles.
