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Is it possible you’re setting your threshold for meaningful change to high? I have friends that have made it their life’s work to get their city to install mor

Is it possible you’re setting your threshold for meaningful change to high? I have friends that have made it their life’s work to get their city to install more bike lanes. They’ve been pushing for a decade and the city has installed a few lanes in particularly dangerous places. They have likely saved a bikers life. I have friends that volunteer at a crisis center and all they do is talk with people who need help. They aren’t making big changes but are positively impacting the lives of people around them. There are so many meaningful ways to improve the world around you that don’t require you to have millions of dollars or to go into politics.

seanw444 5y ago
> that don’t require you to have millions of dollars or to go into politics. These sound like the same thing to me.
- kqr 5y ago
  And if you dislike that, you can work on solving that! It doesn't take grand gestures. Start by reducing the level of plutocracy where you work, for example. People will remember what that feels like and bring it over to their political opinions.
snikeris 5y ago
Yeah I think this is a problem with modern life. Our ancestors knew only of their surroundings and their tribe. Helping someone near you was obviously meaningful. Now the scale that our minds grapple with is infinite: We know we’re a tiny part of an infinite universe, our tribe is billions of people. My solution is focus. Reduce the scale of your concern to where you can have an impact. You can certainly have an impact on the people around you. If that doesn’t seem worthwhile, try to figure out why the people you’re close to matter so little to you.
- sethammons 5y ago
  > You can certainly have an impact on the people around you. If that doesn’t seem worthwhile, try to figure out why the people you’re close to matter so little to you That is very well said; I appreciated reading it
- mulhoon 5y ago
  > Reduce the scale of your concern to where you can have an impact. Nice. That’s going in my quote collection.

seanw444 5y ago

> that don’t require you to have millions of dollars or to go into politics. These sound like the same thing to me.

kqr 5y ago
And if you dislike that, you can work on solving that! It doesn't take grand gestures. Start by reducing the level of plutocracy where you work, for example. People will remember what that feels like and bring it over to their political opinions.

snikeris 5y ago

Yeah I think this is a problem with modern life. Our ancestors knew only of their surroundings and their tribe. Helping someone near you was obviously meaningful. Now the scale that our minds grapple with is infinite: We know we’re a tiny part of an infinite universe, our tribe is billions of people. My solution is focus. Reduce the scale of your concern to where you can have an impact. You can certainly have an impact on the people around you. If that doesn’t seem worthwhile, try to figure out why the people you’re close to matter so little to you.

sethammons 5y ago
> You can certainly have an impact on the people around you. If that doesn’t seem worthwhile, try to figure out why the people you’re close to matter so little to you That is very well said; I appreciated reading it
mulhoon 5y ago
> Reduce the scale of your concern to where you can have an impact. Nice. That’s going in my quote collection.