Be
a Hero for a Better World ... Every Act of Kindness Makes
a Difference!
We
Can Create a
BETTER WORLD
It's
crucial to understand that as a society, we can reorganize.
We can reorganize socially, politically, and economically,
and we can reorganize according to our values.
-- Rebecca
Adamson
Viewed
with one disposition, history has so far been a horrible
accumulation of oppression and suffering. Viewed with another
disposition, however, history has chronicled humans discovering
their own finer potentials and together mounting heroic
offensives to attain them - against monarchy, feudalism,
slavery, Jim Crow racism, apartheid, sexual subjugation,
second class citizenship, sexism, heterosexism, dictatorship,
one party rule, capitalism, and coordinatorism (calling
itself socialism) - and seeking, in their place, equity,
justice, and freedom. The gains humans have made have been
steady and plentiful. Now a major leap is possible. Consistent
with past efforts, we can now attain fully liberatory goals,
including, I think, participatory economics and also alternative
structures for polity, culture, and kinship. We have only
to make the effort.
-- Michael Albert
"I wish people would love everybody else the way they
love me. It would be a better world."
-- Muhammad
Ali
*
"If our hopes of building a better and safer world
are to become more than wishful thinking, we will
need the engagement of volunteers more than ever."
Kofi
Annan
"No
man should think himself a zero, and think he can do nothing
about the state of the world."
-- Bernard Baruch
"The
power of a movement lies in the fact that it can indeed
change the habits of people. This change is not the
result of force but of dedication, of moral persuasion.
"
-- Stephen
Biko
Democracy
is the ultimate, positive revolution because it gives each
and every individual the power to control their lives. And
we can work together to create a just, sustainable world.
-- Bill Blackman
I
believe that we are at the point now, in the United
States, where a movement is beginning to emerge.
-- Grace
Lee Boggs
I believe
that we are at the point now, in the United States, where
a movement is beginning to emerge. I think that the calamity,
the quagmire of the Iraq war, the outsourcing of jobs, the
drop-out of young people from the education system, the
monstrous growth of the prison-industrial complex, the planetary
emergency, which we are engulfed at the present moment,
is demanding that instead of just complaining about these
things, instead of just protesting about these things, we
begin to look for, and hope for, another way of living.
And I think that-- that's where the movement-- I-- I see
a movement beginning to emerge, 'cause I see hope beginning
to trump despair.
-- Grace
Lee Boggs
*
When the story of these times gets written, we want
it to say that we did all we could, and it was more
than anyone could have imagined.
--
Bono
"We
are working to help people become better people; then this
will become a better world."
-- Eva
Burrows
Know
what's weird? Day by day, nothing seems to change, but pretty
soon...everything's different.
-- Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes
*
Do what you can to show you care about other people,
and you will make our world a better place.
-- Rosalynn
Carter
There
is clearly much left to be done, and whatever else
we are going to do, we had better get on with it.
-- Rosalynn
Carter
*You
must work - we must all work to make the world worthy
of its children.
-- Pablo
Casals
*To
the wrongs that need resistance, To the right that
needs assistance, To the future in the distance, Give
yourselves.
-- Carrie
Chapman Catt
*
all of us should be invovled in our own futures to
create a world that our children will want to live
in.
-- Harry
Chapin
I
believe that success brings responsibility. It also
does not bring immunity to the consequences of our
quickening march towards oblivion. The bottom line
is that all of us should be invovled in our own futures
to create a world that our children will want to live
in.
-- Harry
Chapin
We
all have the potential to move the world, and the
world is ready to be moved.
-- Harry
Chapin
"There
are no magic answers, no miraculous methods to overcome
the problems we face, just the familiar ones: honest
search for understanding, education, organization,
action that raises the cost of state violence for
its perpetrators or that lays the basis for institutional
change -- and the kind of commitment that will persist
despite the temptations of disillusionment, despite
many failures and only limited successes, inspired
by the hope of a brighter future."
-- Noam
Chomsky
"When
we acknowledge that all of life is sacred and that each
act is an act of choice and therefore sacred, then life
is a sacred dance lived consciously each moment. When we
live at this level, we participate in the creation of a
better world."
-- Scout Cloud Lee
"Did
universal charity prevail, earth would be a heaven, and
hell a fable.
-- Charles Caleb Colton (1825)
"You
cannot hope to build a better world without improving the
individuals. To that end each of us must work for his or
her own improvement, and at the same time share a general
responsibility for all humanity, our particular duty being
to aid those to whom we think we can be most useful."
-- Marie Curie
*
…So, take what's inside you and make big, bold choices.
And for those who can't speak for themselves, use
bold voices. And make friends and love well, bring
art to this place. And make this world better for
the whole human race.
-- Jamie
Lee Curtis
"With
realization of one's own potential and self-confidence
in one's ability, one can build a better world."
-- Dalai
Lama
*
I
believe that individuals can make a difference in
society. Since periods of change such as the present
one come so rarely in human history, it is up to each
of us to make the best use of our time to help create
a happier world. -- The
Dalai Lama
"You
are the people who are shaping a better world. One of the
secrets of inner peace is the practice of compassion."
-- Dalai
Lama (1935 -)
*
Older, younger, anyone can help. We've learned that
our legislators listen, and people with passionate and
thoughtful concerns make a difference every day. We've
had constituents initiate legislation, lobby for it,
organize meetings and events, and, of course, call,
mail, e-mail and visit legislators to express their
views. It's really great to see how much difference
that individuals can make.
-- Doris
Day
The
best way to predict the future is to create it.
--
Peter
F. Drucker
Plans
are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate
into hard work.
-- Peter
F. Drucker
*
“Now is the accepted time, not tomorrow, not some
more convenient season. It is today that our best
work can be done and not some future day or future
year. It is today that we fit ourselves for the greater
usefulness of tomorrow. Today is the seed time, now
are the hours of work, and tomorrow comes the harvest
and the playtime.”
-- W.
E. B. DuBois
“Now
is the accepted time, not tomorrow, not some more convenient
season. It is today that our best work can be done and not
some future day or future year.” -- W. E. B. Du Bois
Change
happens at the level of the individual
-- Scilla
Elworthy
Real
change comes when people are enabled to use their
thinking and their energy in a new way, using a different
system of thought, different language, and having
fresh visions of the future.
-- Scilla
Elworthy
When
faced with world problems – like hunger, overpopulation,
nuclear weapons, the arms trade – you may be among those
who are overwhelmed by a feeling of “Help! What on earth
can I, just one person, do about this?” Take heart. That’s
a sane response. It’s the basis for a whole new attitude
to world problems, where change at the level of the individual
is more and more recognised as essential to change in huge
world systems.
-- Scilla
Elworthy
“News
reports can overwhelm us. We can be appalled, we can
sympathise. But what is hard to grasp is the sense
that, at this moment, people are working, organising
- not just at an executive level, but on the floor,
in the warehouse. A man is packing a box of oral rehydration
tablets; maternity kits are being prepared; education
kits are being packed. And somewhere, tomorrow, those
boxes will be unpacked and a child with life-threatening
diarrhoea will be saved, a baby will be born in more
hygienic circumstances, a girl will receive her first
exercise book and her first pencil.”
-- Ralph
Fiennes
All
who think cannot but see there is a sanction like
that of religion which binds us in partnership in
the serious work of the world.
-- Benjamin
Franklin
"We
also learn that this country and the Western world have
no monopoly of goodness and truth and scholarship, we begin
to appreciate the ingredients that are indispensable to
making a better world. In a life of learning that is, perhaps,
the greatest lesson of all."
-- John Hope Franklin
*
"You never change the existing reality by fighting
it. Instead, create a new model that makes the old
one obsolete."
--
R.
Buckminster Fuller
*
"Be
the change you want to see in the world."
-- Mohandas
Gandhi
*
"I better quit my talking 'cause I told you all I
know But please remember, pardner, wherever you may
go The people are building a peaceful world, and when
the job is done, That'll be the biggest thing that
man has ever done."
-- Woody
Guthrie
I am
only one,
But still I am one.
I cannot do everything,
But still I can do something;
And because I cannot do everything
I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.
-- Edward Everett Hale
A single
man of one, only pebbles can be moved, but many men together,
stands no mountain that can't move.
-- Robert M. Hensel
*"We
cannot close ourselves off to information and ignore
the fact that millions of people are out there suffering.
I honestly want to help. I don't believe I feel differently
from other people. I think we all want justice and
equality, a chance for a life with meaning. All of
us would like to believe that if we were in a bad
situation someone would help us."
~ Angelina
Jolie
"What
the people want is very simple. They want an America
as good as its promise."
-- Barbara
Jordan
I
long to accomplish a great and noble tasks, but it is
my chief duty to accomplish humble tasks as though they
were great and noble. The world is moved along, not
only by the mighty shoves of its heroes, but also by
the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker.
-- Helen
Keller
"Few
will have the greatness to bend history itself, but
each of us can work to change a small portion of events,
and in the total of all those acts will be written the
history of this generation."
-- Robert
F. Kennedy
*I
do believe there is enormous possibility to change
this world.
-- Nicole
Kidman
"You
see all these things that make you feel desperate
or sad, but you realize changes can be made, and it
doesn't take a lot of money on our part to make a
change in people's lives."
-- John
Legend
There
needs to be a shift in consciousness; there needs to
be an absolute wake-up call before society can actually
make the kind of incredibly significant changes that
need to happen. --
Annie
Lennox
"We
can work together for a better world with men and
women of goodwill, those who radiate the intrinsic
goodness of humankind."
-- Wangari
Maathai
*"Every
one of us can make a contribution. And quite often
we are looking for the big things and forget that,
wherever we are, we can make a contribution... just
imagine what's happening if there are billions of
people out there doing something. Just imagine the
power of what we can do."
~ Wangari
Maathai
*
"I fear the future I wish for my children is at risk,
so I'm taking action. Please join me... " --
Madonna
"I
think that the celebrity is a really important thing,
because we have the voice that's recognizable, that
can educate people to make a difference and empower
them to make a difference, and to also get things
in motion with the people in charge that can effect
change."
-- Alyssa
Milano
A
lot of political people, especially people on the left,
have forgotten the importance of humor as an incredible
weapon, and a vehicle through which to affect change.
-- Michael
Moore
In
less than a century we experienced great movement.
The youth movement! The labor movement! The civil
rights movement! The peace movement! The solidarity
movement! The women's movement! The disability movement!
The disarmament movement! The gay rights movement!
The environmental movement! Movement! Transformation!
Is there any reason to believe we are done?
-- Holly
Near
*
Our generation has the ability and the responsibility
to make our ever-more connected world a more hopeful,
stable and peaceful place.
-- Natalie
Portman
*
Social networking is playing a huge role in creating
awareness and mobilizing support for all kinds of
common interests. What better way to use this remarkable
tool than to change the world?
-- Natalie
Portman
*
Our generation has the ability and the responsibility
to make our ever-more connected world a more hopeful,
stable and peaceful place.
-- Natalie
Portman
"We
are born, we grow up, we live our lives as best we
can. If we are thoughtful we are good parents and
good partners. If we are wise we strive for integrity
and intimacy. If we are fortunate we discover love
and joy. If we are able, we make the world a little
better than we found it."
~ Robert
Reich
"We
have always held to the hope, the belief, the conviction
that there is a better life, a better world, beyond
the horizon."
-- Franklin
D. Roosevelt
This
country will not be a good place for any of us to live
in unless we make it a good place for all of us to live
in.
-- Theodore
Roosevelt
"You
must believe that you can help bring about a better
world. A good society is produced only by good individuals,
just as truly as a majority in a presidential election
is produced by the votes of single electors." -- Bertrand
Russell
"The
struggle to create a nation and world of economic
and social justice and environmental sanity is not
an easy one. The struggle to try and create a more
peaceful world will be extremely difficult. But this
I know: despair is not an option if we care about
our kids and grandchildren. Giving up is not an option
if we want to prevent irreparable harm to our planet."
~ Sen.
Bernie Sanders
"Of
all of the forces that make for a better world, none is
so indispensable, none so powerful as hope"
-- Charles Sawyer
Some men see things the way they are and ask, "Why?"
I dream things that never were, and ask "Why not?"
-- George
Bernard Shaw
Every
act of compassion makes a difference. Be a hero a
better world!
-- Robert
Alan Silverstein
*
...you
can make little choices that can change the world
to be a better, happier, lovelier place every day
-- Alicia
Silverstone
*
It's important to see what we can do to make a difference,
but it's more important to me to do it every single
day.
-- Alicia
Silverstone
The
only kinds of fights worth fighting are those you're going
to lose, because somebody has to fight them and lose and
lose and lose until someday, somebody who believes as you
do wins.
-- I.F. Stone, journalist
So,
what we do as individuals matters. It adds up.
-- Maurice
Strong
*
I want a different world. One where I don’t wake up
thinking I’m so lucky to be able to feed my daughter,
and able to give people a clean drink of water. I don’t
want images of starving babies at the breast in my mind.
I want that to change. And if I want that, I had better
do something about it.
-- Emma
Thompson
"We
must build a new world, a far better world -- one in which
the eternal dignity of man is respected."
-- Harry S. Truman
"My
satisfaction comes from my commitment to advancing a
better world."
-- Faye
Wattleton
*
I'm
trying to show by my actions that you can make a far
better world if you just care enough. That's all you
have to do. It's no big deal. One act of kindness
a day can do it.
-- Betty
Williams
*
"No matter what people tell you, words and ideas
can change the world.”
-- Robin
Williams
