October 29, 2018
Venerable Wuling in A Matter of Conscience

You cannot do everything,

so do what you can. 

Food security, animal agriculture, gender equality, climate change, single-use plastics, chemical pollution, resource depletion. There’s so much to be concerned about if we want to be a responsible member of society! And the list keeps growing in our over-populated, consumer-oriented, technology-driven world. Because everyone apparently wants more, especially those who have the most. It’s overwhelming.

“How much can I do?” we ask ourselves.

We want to throw up our hands and give up even trying.

Resist that urge. It would be great to do everything perfectly (or even imperfectly). But we can’t. So, instead, we need to figure out what we can do. Focus on a social concern, study it, and get to work. Let others choose and work on their own concerns. If we’re not rebounding erratically from one issue to another, we’ll all focus our energy and end up accomplishing a lot more.

And then be able to take on the next one.

Article originally appeared on a buddhist perspective (http://www.abuddhistperspective.org/).
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