I don’t know how to change it all.

I don’t know how to stop the bombs, the brutal and constant assault of a land and its people, the daily killings, the fresh waves of soul-searing grief ripping through those left alive.

I don’t know how to stop humans hurting other humans. I wish I did.

I don’t know how to stop the steady destruction of this special planet; the mighty rainforests breathing life into our lungs; flowers whose beauty make your heart pause with wonder; mountains whose majesty and remoteness are humbling; oceans whose depths and mysteries may forever elude us yet who nourish and sustain us all…

I don’t know how to wake people up to the beauty right in front of them, the beauty we are all snuffing out one shitty, palm oil-filled snack at a go.

I don’t know how to make other people realise the harm that’s inflicted on innocent animals and people in order for them to indulge in their smashed avo and poached egg brunch…

I don’t know how to change a society where my ease and convenience only exist because of other humans’ suffering.

I don’t know how to stop the hamster wheel of capitalism and consumerism that’s spinning us all faster and faster towards the destruction of the only things that actually matter: clean water and human kindness.

I don’t know how to change a world that’s totally lost its way.

I don’t know how to safeguard the paradise we currently have on loan from our children and grandchildren.

I don’t know the solution.

I only know that, amid the horrors and the anger and the heartbreak, I can look for all the choices for change available to me and start there.

I know I can choose better when spending my money.

I know I can speak up for injustices, again and again if necessary.

I know I can sit quietly each day and work at bringing a powerful inner stillness into all my daily interactions.

I know I can change myself; that I can make a difference in my tiny corner of the world.

I don’t know how to change it all.

But it’s not my job to do that, my job is to change myself.

And I do know how to do that.