Either you are part of the Problem

or part of the Solution

This is not necessarily a New Year’s resolution suggestion, but more of a “how you live your life” thing.  It involves a realization that you can in fact make a difference in the world around you.—you can make it better or you can make it worse—even if just a little.  Either you are a part of the problem or you are part of the solution.

It may be as simple as brightening the life of someone with a kind word and a smile, or hollering at your kids for some dumb reason.  The differences you make in your daily life may be small, but it is very meaningful to those around you.  You have a choice in which direction you want to go.

Perhaps “Solipsism” is involved in this premise:  The term comes from Latin solus (alone) and ipse (self).  Anything outside one’s own mind is unsure and may not exist.  This philosophy may involve extreme preoccupation with and indulgence of one's feelings, desires, etc.  And, to the extreme extent is bred distrust, discrimination, bias, prejudice, bigotry and hatred.

The flip side is “love thy neighbor,” one of the two commandments handed down by Jesus and found as a basic premise of every religion in the world.  It can be found in the premise of  “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”  And so, we come full circle to either you are apart of the problem or part of the solution.

Whether you practice Solipism or you have deep-seated religious beliefs, we are talking how you live your life on a daily basis, if not a minute by minute basis.  Whether you hate the world and everyone who has a different language and skin color, or whether you love life and every person and creature, it is not easy to change your philosophy and the way you live your life.  There is a good chance that you may not have put much thought into this question, and you may not identify yourself with either point of view.

Look around you.  Do you have pity for your hungry neighbors, or do you bother to wonder about the predicament of your acquaintances that are out of work.  Or, do you believe that everyone in a breadline is scamming the system, “because we don’t have any one starving in this country.”  Do you realize that you can make a difference in the lives of others and that it is only a matter of deciding to be a part of the solution, rather than a part of the problem.

While you may think of this as only a ploy for you to donate your volunteer time or your dollars to the World Foundation for Children and its program:  the TGIA Farm, it is also a challenge for you to think about your life and how you can impact the lives of others. Decide if you want empower yourself to be a part of the solution to the many issues that face us in our daily lives.  Maybe it should be a New Year’s resolution or it should be a thoughtful gesture inside you that motivates everyone you come in contact with to help change this world to be a better place.