It's Not Your Responsibility to "Fix" The World
These are excerpts from Chapter 5 in The Climate Optimist Handbook.
Chapter 5 — It’s Not Your Fault
You are not responsible for saving the world because the world we live in was not built to last. It was built on shaky ground with even shakier values, and at some point, it is destined to fall. Like a tower built on sand, a time will come when it can’t withstand the winds anymore, and it will start to crumble.
You live in this world, you are a part of this world, you have been shaped and influenced by this world, and you have learned to love this world.
Even if you want things to be different, it’s often difficult to fulfill those intentions simply because the society we live in does not support it. You want to be more mindful, so you start recycling, only to learn recycling in many cases is a myth. You want to phase out fossil fuels only to learn there’s no public transit in place. Even if your intentions are good, the system does not exist to support it.
Yet.
Mega emphasis on yet. Because the sooner we start to recognize it’s not our fault, the sooner we stop shaming and blaming one another, and the sooner we can use that energy to create a new world. Let’s not fight the world we live in now, but let a new and even more beautiful one emerge.
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Living from this place of forgiveness for ourselves and others can be quite challenging. We are used to responding to those who are hostile to the environment with the same kind of medicine. Fight fire with fire, so to speak. We meet hostile ignorance and greed with loathing and blame.
It’s normal to be angry with the world. (We will discuss how to work with our anger later.) But it’s also important to remember that getting angry and acting like those you oppose doesn’t work. Only finding common ground will help us move forward.
You Can’t Carry The World on Your Shoulders
Imagine waking up every morning for the rest of your life and telling yourself it’s your responsibility to right what’s wrong and save the Earth from a climate disaster. Do you think that might get pretty tiresome?
My guess is you’ll be burnt out within the first couple of weeks. I say that because I’ve been there. I used to think it was up to me to save the world, and I didn’t deserve to be happy until I had done my part. Very little came out of that. Instead, I found myself in frequent clashes and with a mother who kept saying (with increasing pain in her voice), “Honey, you can’t carry the world on your shoulders.”
Turns out she was right. I couldn’t carry the world on my shoulders, but I could carry it in my heart. Isn’t that beautiful? The thing about your heart is the more you add to it, the more it grows. Your shoulders will get tired, but your heart will not. It will only grow stronger, more resilient, and more capable of holding space for new change, possibilities, and love.
If we dump the guilt game and instead begin to recognize what an incredibly exciting time it is to be alive, we open the gateway to our heart and its power. If we wake up every morning and remind ourselves we have the opportunity to make history and participate in the cocreation of a better world, we unlock potential we can barely dream of.
It is not your responsibility to “fix” this world. It’s also not your duty to find the villain who caused all this pain. If you think it is your responsibility, your heart will soon grow resentful and exhausted. That doesn’t mean we should turn a blind eye to all the problems and ignore our fears.
We should speak loudly and clearly about the world we want and the changes we desire.
We should share those visions with others, aim for big, bold moves, and hold companies and people in power accountable. We should talk of hopes for a better tomorrow with excitement and proudly share the seemingly small but oh-so-important actions we’re taking now to bring that world closer. We should inspire with our actions, speak with conviction, and ask questions so new answers can be found.
But, and here’s the caveat, we can do so from a place of curiosity and courage, not from guilt, shame, or fear.
We can be the water that calms the fire, and as the hot stones sizzle in the quiet night, wait patiently for new life to emerge from the ashes.
These were excerpts from Chapter Five: It’s Not Your Fault. The book consists of a total of 75 chapters, broken up into 6 different parts. If you want to feel inspired and empowered as a climate activist, let your journey start here:
