Maybe you think that one small action won't change anything. Maybe you believe that by being one voice with an opinion you won't have any impact on the world, perhaps you believe that if you, just you, dropped that little cotton bud nothing will change. It's just one cotton bud, right?Something so small won't bother anyone.
And you won't bother going against your friends when they start talking about pollution while they start preparing their super market salmon out of the plastic packaging that leaves too much room for air and takes up too much space in their trash can. They didn't even bother throwing it someplace to recyle it. You, however, won't bring up their hypocricy. You just shrug, because what would it do right? One small group of friends wouldn't have an impact on the rest of the world. Besides, you're just as hypocrite. It's easier that way. No point in discussing things that won't matter.
Of course it's human. We are animals of regulations and patterns. The tides of change are an inconvenience for us and they always will be.
But we forget that actions ripple and spread like the cotton bud that slipped out of your hand when there was no trash can in sight. That little piece of plastic landed in the ocean and created its own ripples.
We forget that the words you say, the pleas you hold, will stick in the back of the heads of the people you talk to. First it begins with small differences, perhaps not buying the salmon. Soon their actions ripple and they decide to recycle. Maybe, eventually they start forming an example for people, they inspire somebody to do better. All because of the ripple you created. That ripple will turn into a tide, when more and more people look at your actions and start to join you.
You never said something. You never created the tide.
What you did do, however, was drop that small cotton topped stick. Floating through the air it lands on the beaches of Borneo. Of course it won't break down, it's plastic. When the tide pulls in, the oceans eagerly eats the bud along with thousands and thousands and thousands pieces of plastic. Bags that seem like white star-like specs in the dark endlessly blue ocean, choking hazards for various animals, nanoplastics that'll end up in our own system.
Floating around in this ocean is a sea horse. Instead of grabbing a plant to navigate the vast ocean, it grips your cotton bud. Congratulations, you have changed an eco system.
Actions ripple and have consequences, and these have consequences of their own. Maybe my words will change your view, maybe you'll decide to change your patterns. And ripples will turn into the ocean's tide. You can make the difference, so act on it.
