Here's to Chance

I've always believed that I was born to change the world.

There are so many splinters of humanity that need healed. Racism and inequity, sexism and violence, irreverence toward the elderly, indifference for the poor: Mercy weeps.

I've always believed that I was born to change the world.

But its wounds are deeper than my reach, more vast than my sway. The magnitude paralyzes me and my battle cry for revolution forfeits to quiet disheartenment.

I've always believed that I was born to change the world.

Yet I still believe in goodness. How many others must feel the call to action, hear the all hail, receive the summons, only to be overwhelmed by the greatness of need compared to their capacity to give? How many of us stand crippled by disbelief?

I've always believed that I was born to change the world.

And so I've decided to choose chance. I will not reach every student in my classroom, but I will choose the chance that I might reach one. I will not cure society of its systemic oppression, but I will choose the chance to shed light on its devious endurance. I will not fill the gap left in the hearts of the elderly, but I will choose the chance for even a few to teach what they have learned and to know love at the end.

Because I've always believed that I was born to change the world.