What One Person Can Do....

On several of the websites that I was posted on, people were asking "what can I do, I'm only one person."

The manager of one of the sites asked me if I could prepare a response to that.

The following was written in the winter of 2004-5.

It was incorporated into one of the leading mailing group's philosophy.

I later incorporated into one of my early Blogs.

And I offer it here for anyone who feels helpless to do anything important
in changing the status quo.

Feel free to pass it along.

We use it our own materials.


When You Pull Your Head Out of the Sand, We Have A Few Things For You To Do...

"What can I do? I am only one person...."
les aaron


“I’m only one person, what can I do?” How many times have you heard that kind of answer.
It’s the passive negative response and to a great extent it is the reason we are where we are today. To anyone who says “I’m only one person…” I recite chapter and verse. I remind them that the big changes in the world have come from one person. Think Washington, Churchill, Lincoln, Roosevelt… When it comes to change, new ideas, ground breaking concepts, for the most part, they have been the work of a single person working alone ie. Madame Currie, Steinmetz, Einstein, Galileo, Newton, Darwin and on and on in every field you can imagine…

Here’s just a few of the things that don’t take much time or effort that one person can do to make a difference. And while one person can change the world, think what can happen if everyone decided to do the things below. Imagine if every like-minded person in the country took a moment or two out to do one of these things every day or every other day. What do you think would happen? Would 100 million letters going to the Speaker have an impact? Would 100 million signatures on a petition wake up the press?
You can answer that question yourself but here’s just my short list of things you can do without having to be a genius only an American who cares where we go from here.


Write a letter to your Representative

Write a letter to the newspaper

Send an email to a radio, cable or TV station’s website

Sign a petition

Tell your friends about a petition

Attend a meeting

Attend a march, a protest, a vigil

Speak up when the opportunity presents itself

Organize a gathering of friends to discuss an issue

Send out a press release

Start a discussion group

Serve as a conduit for information

Attend a political meeting

Speak up

Put up posters that focus on an issue

Write an editorial

Hold a Party

Show a film or DVD at your house

Protest

Send an email about an upcoming program to your friends

Spread the word

Organize a group

Raise some money for a deserving candidate

Organize a New England Town Meeting

Ask a candidate to come speak to your group
Sponsor some activism

Send a check to your favorite cause

Stay current with what’s going on

Join your local political party

Have a dessert party, a tea or some other function
To bring together like-minded people

Join an Internet group

Sponsor your own mailing list

Start a network or serve to connect two different organizations

Write a newsletter

Build a database of like minded people

Get people engaged

Start a group to protect civil rights, learn about the Constitution and the Bill of Rights

Bring in a progressive movie to your local theatre

Call up and complain about Right Wing dominated radio

Don’t let the Right Wing have the last word

Start a Think Tank on the issues


Do these things and tell others and get everyone involved in a Tsunami of communications that will literally drown the opposition and get them to cry “Uncle.”

It is the way to make change real and immediate.


Post these on your bulletin board and pass the word around!
Les Aaron
The Armchair Curmudgeon

http://lesaaron.blogspot.com