I Am Only One.

I am only one,
But still I am one.

I cannot do everything,
But I can do something.

And because I cannot do everything,
I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.

Edward E. Hale: He published a wide variety of works in fiction, history and biography. He used his writings and the two magazines he founded, Old and New (1870–75) and Lend a Hand (1886–97), to advance a number of social reforms including religious tolerance, the abolition of slavery and education reforms. Wikipedia

I remember reading how a war correspondent said he saw a toddler alone and crying along side of the road the troops were traveling along. Everyone marched past the child. He said he wanted to help but decided that one act like that wouldn't help all the death and war around him. He walked on. Someone wrote the magazine and chided him by saying he could have saved that one life. Maybe it was only one life in a war that killed thousands - but one life means so much.

I've never forgotten that story. If we can't do something big; we can at least do something small. Even a smile to someone who we don't know can lift their hearts. Giving to the poor or doing volunteer work may seem like a drop in a bucket of woes, but drops turn into glasses of water.