Tiny acts make a big difference, but when so much is wrong in the world, where do we even start? Just pick one small, manageable thing a day. Here’s a starter list.
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In the hours after the election was called for Donald Trump, many of us found ourselves in uncharted territory. Yes, we’d known the reality of a Trump presidency before. But in those early days of 2017 we faced the bad news with undespairing vigor and a grim determination — based on a belief that what was right would win out in the end.
In 2024, we are tired. The grind of dull horrors across the world during the past decade has worn us down. We can hardly take care of ourselves, let alone others, let alone the future. It takes everything we’ve got just to make it through another day. Just to smile at our families, or to make it through the door of our daily jobs.
But just like the longest journey begins with one small step, doing one small thing a day can maybe help get us through this trying time. Small is doable. Doing one small thing that might help one person can also help us stay strong and centered for the long haul.
Every week here, I plan on documenting the small things I have done, things that take mere minutes, things that bring immediate satisfaction with no long-range heavy lifting involved. Just what I, one concerned individual, can manage alongside all my other obligations as a professor, creative services director, mother, and citizen. And maybe you can manage some of them too. Or maybe not. But these small things will be here, whenever you need them. A salve for the hard times ahead.
For examples, this week I managed to do the following:
1) I signed up for a Volunteer Hour to help a group called Right To Be. The organization focuses on preventing harassment in many forms: sexual, race-based, online, or on the street, and I will be helping them track media stories of harassment to identify trends in hate. My sign-up took three minutes. For more information: https://righttobe.org/our-training/
2) I bought a signed book by Nicole Chung, a writer I like and respect, at the Brew and Forge Book Fair. The proceeds will go to the Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association. There are so many different kinds of books for sale, you can find something for anybody! This took 10 minutes, and it cost me $25. For more information:
https://www.brewandforge.com/bookfair
3) I wrote a letter to my local school board, asking them to approve the meager raise the teachers union has been asking for. Florida teachers are some of the most poorly paid in the country, and they need our support. For those of you in other areas, just take a look at what is going on in the school systems where you are, and think of the small ways you can help some of the most overlooked civil servants in our society. Writing the advocacy letter took me 20 minutes.
4) On Thanksgiving, I talked politics with some of the more conservative members of my family, one of the harder small things I’ve done. It takes energy and time to engage, and it can be deflating to feel like you’ve made no headway. But avoiding these conversations to keep the peace allows closed-minded thinking to flourish. Worse yet, not challenging unfounded beliefs makes them appear as if they are more normal than they are. Holding to your principles, especially among family or friends, even for a few minutes, is one of the most powerful things you can do. And you never know when some of your cogent arguments may bear fruit in the future. This took 35 minutes.
5) I scheduled my COVID-19 and flu shots. I know the prospect of feeling sick-ish for a couple of days sucks. But even if these illnesses aren’t fatal to you, they are to others, including people who might live next door or down the block. Getting vaccinated is one of the most selfless things you can do for the more vulnerable among us, as we move into the winter virus season. This took 10 minutes.
6) I joined BlueSky and encouraged my social media network to do the same. I didn’t have to deactivate my Twitter/X because Elon Musk kicked me off months ago (I actually don’t know why!). Meanwhile, more and more academics, experts, activists, mutual aid workers, and other concerned people are congregating on Bluesky. It’s grown to more than 20 million strong. It also has amazing perks, like starter packs (groups of people you can follow all at once), a powerful block option to keep fascists off your page, no ads, no sponsored group posts from people you aren’t following, and no discernible algorithm pointing you in directions you don’t want to go. To set it all up took about 45 minutes. For more information: https://bsky.app/
7) I donated $25 to Border Kindness, a group that drops off water and supplies to migrants trying to cross the Darien Gap between Panama and Colombia. “With the advent of tighter border security, migrants have been forced to navigate more dangerous and life-threatening corners of the mountains and desert, making the need for life-saving provisions even more necessary,” the site states. No matter how someone feels about immigration, letting people diein the desert probably isn’t their intention. This took three minutes. For more information:
https://borderkindness.org/programs/
Week by week, I’ll be curating this listing of small things we can all do to make our world a better, brighter place. Together, we can help one person, then another, and another. We may never heal the wide world, but doing even one small thing is so much better than doing nothing at all.
