We are surrounded by thoughts, ideas and advice coming at us every day from every direction, but most of it will wash over us without much impact. Statistics vary, but it is commonly accepted that we remember only 10% of what we read and 20% of what we hear. So, what makes something stick?
This week, I was privileged to sit and listen to a survivor of the Holocaust reflect on her life and experiences. The powerful but quiet testimony of some of Europe’s darkest days was a moment to sit up and listen to. A question from a student in the audience asked: “how can we be upstanders and not bystanders?” The response: “have the energy to care”. The simplicity of that sentence stuck.
We can get so bogged down with the minutiae of daily life that we burn all our energy on the busyness leaving little left to focus on what we can influence if we care to. When we take a moment to think about what really matters to us, what we care most about, what we feel we must stand up to and stand up for, we find we have the energy to care… and that might just change the world for the better.
