“Would you like to sign up here to change the world?”

                                                                                                        -- Nancy

I am in my tiny cottage on a tiny island in the Pacific way up at the northern end of the Salish Sea. It belongs to British Columbia but there is no transportation to the mainland. The only way on and off the island is by ferrying first to another island (Quadra), then crossing it to catch a second ferry to Vancouver Island. And that’s only possible if the weather cooperates and the ferries are sailing. All of which is to say that this is remote – without cell service or police presence, and even Amazon will not deliver here.

This preamble is because of what I am about to disclose about my morning here on Cortes (pronounced Cortez) Island. I participated in a Women’s March commemorating the 2017 January 21st March in Washington DC. We met at 11 a.m. at the community hall, maybe 30 of us, mostly women but a few brave and clear-eyed men. Some wore pink, knitted toques, some carried signs. My friend, Alex, brought along his flute to quicken our steps.

We were all ages. (I, no doubt, the oldest). Two or three of us added our dogs to the procession.

Now try to imagine the scene: a long, rather undisciplined, chattering, stretched-out assemblage of islanders strolling down a country road (It’s all country roads), waving signs, occasionally chanting the ‘misogyny has got to go’ cheer, and waving gaily to the few motorists who slowed down to pass and wave support. This was not an in-your-face confrontational statement, my friends; it was closer to a Cortes Island Valentine-to-the-world.  Every sign spoke about love . . . giving it . . . showing it . . . expressing it . . . requesting it.

I don’t know how many kilometers we did; we walked to the ocean and back. It took approximately two hours. And all along the way Nancy (I never did get her last name) walked with pen and paper in hand, asking each individual the question you saw at the top of this blog: Would you like to sign up to change the world?

It almost brought me to tears. Yes, I thought, I’d like to sign up for that.  And I did.

Nancy took my name and email address and I have no doubt that I will hear from her. She was so openhearted and vulnerable and disarming that I could never disappoint her.

So today, friends, I ‘signed up to change the world’. There was no time limit stated and no job description. I may be left to my own devices here, but I’m up for that. I mean what’s the alternative . . . let the world go to hell in a hand-basket?

It was a year ago approximately that I wrote about the March on Washington. I remember predicting that the new US presidency would be a lightning rod for change, and it turns out that I was right, but the process is slow. I was hoping for something more and bigger. Maybe this will be the year the tide will really turn. It’s a powerful year in numerology and the predictions are that it will see positive change.

However, we cannot just sit back and watch as though it were a movie. Some astronaut wisely said, ‘There are no passengers on planet Earth – we’re all crew.’ Meaning we must each pull our weight, contributing in whatever way we are able. It doesn’t have to be massive, just positive. Even if all we can do is to become more loving this year, sending out more compassion and forgiveness than acrimony and hate. Lessening up on the fear and bringing on the trust. That act – that commitment – is huge. It begins with one, but love is unbelievably infectious.

Here in my cozy cottage I have a wall hanging, situated just inside the front doors, and on it are the words:

If there is light in the soul,
There is beauty in the person,
If there is beauty in the person
There will be harmony in the house,
If there is harmony in the house,
There will be order in the nation,
If there is order in the nation,
There will be peace in the world.

‘Light’ in the soul, dear ones, is loosely translated as ‘love’ in the soul. If each of us could just make a concerted effort to be in touch with that love in the soul and allow ourselves to be vulnerable enough to express it, on a daily basis . . .within our families . . . within the workplace . . . on social media . . . we will amaze ourselves with the results.

This is no idle promise.

How about it?

Would you like to sign up to change the world?  

No experience required.