Be The Moon

Everywhere you turn, there’s a reason to look out for yourself and no one else. It seems for every hand outstretched for help, there’s one reaching to take from us forcefully.

In defence, we wrap our arms around ourselves tightly and move briskly through life like we’re on the shady backstreet of a market with an unsavoury reputation.

But we can’t help when our arms aren’t free, and no one pulls anyone to safety with clenched fists.

That’s not love, it’s survival in its most primitive form.

“Me first! Everyone else can go to hell.”

With selfishness spreading like a virus, hell isn’t a place, it’s an event happening now.

Open your eyes, see beyond yourself.

I'll show you what enough is,
It's what is left after you share,
Even if you received only a little,
Be the one who gives a lot away.

A self-centered existence is a waste of the capacity each of us has to create wonder for the world.

We all can dream up some kind of better future but when we seek to create it for ourselves alone, we put barriers in the way of collaboration, discovery and innovation.

Innovation for real human progress needs love.

It demands a passion for people, a stirring to improve the way we live and an urgency to pool the resources we’ve been given so that the collective can rise above the uneven distribution of individual privilege.

The collective. All of us. Everyone who can be reached, not just the people we hold dear.

You see, we’re not here for ourselves and our families.

We’re here for the world.

I'll show you where peace is,
It's right where you fight for it,
And when your spirit is calm,
Become the end of many wars.

Maybe we hold back because we believe our value is limited, but the limitations we place on ourselves are artificial.

For ages we have measured (the potential for) impact the wrong way, undervaluing our efforts and breeding hopelessness.

The yardstick we use is unfair and the manufactured bar is set way too high so we give up before we even begin.

“It’s all futile. Trying to help is pointless.”

That’s not accurate.

Helping begins when we stop aiming for a sweeping transformation and instead focus on creating incremental and transferable change in our different corners of the universe.

Impact should be measured one life at a time, not en masse.

And one at a time, it always adds up.

I'll show you how to save a life,
It's when you put yours on the line,
So when you find your salvation,
Risk it all for someone else's.

If we choose to build with purpose, the small blocks of goodness we place one on top of another will become a refuge that could save us from the freezing cold of greed and unkindness threatening to turn the world into a wasteland.

No matter how little it is, a light in darkness will make some difference to those closest to it. And if those blessed by that light choose to reflect it, illumination can be amplified across lives and generations.

You don’t even have to be the light source.

Even with its all-powerful brightness, the sun needs the lightless moon to extend its value to the earth beyond daytime.

So be the moon.

Reflect whatever light touches you.

Unclench your fists and share your love.

This is the life we’re made for.

I'll tell you where the light is,
It's wherever you can see it,
And when it shines on you,
Be the moon for the world.