How can the average person make a difference? / LJWorld.com

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Asked at Massachusetts Street on October 29, 2007

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“I’d say it starts with finding the right cause that they feel strongly about and then going out and taking action.”

— Brian Cordill, engineer, Long Beach, Calif.

“They should love their neighbor as themselves.”

— Lindsay Arthur, Kansas University sophomore, Manhattan

“By volunteering for a 501C3 not-for-profit agency or donating to the United Way on a regular basis.”

— James Blair, minister, Kansas City, Mo.

“It could be something as little as helping someone out, holding the door for someone or just being nice. Small acts of kindness can go a long way.”

— Jackie Wittlinger, sales associate, Lawrence

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Amy Heeter 6 years, 5 months ago

One person at a time.

logicsound04 6 years, 5 months ago

Fudgepop needs to go moderators.

You have plenty of time to remove my comments trashing the screw-the-taxpayers city commission we have raping the city over business interests, but some a-hole starts throwing around the n-word and you're suddenly nowhere to be found.

Tom Shewmon 6 years, 5 months ago

What be up with Fudgeop?

Fudgepop 6 years, 5 months ago

Oh I just want you to realize how much I hate your F@cking guts

Fudgepop 6 years, 5 months ago

You can all go pour yourselves some cement overshoes and sink in the mire you all have to talk about south of town with the women's LaCrosse team playing while Tonya Brown and your Neo Nazi party watch her suck dicks for food by Campanillllllleeeee.

Fudgepop 6 years, 5 months ago

You can walk down the streets of Lawrence and act like a bunch of absolute NIGERS just like most of you are. Fuc you niger!!!!

overplayedhistory 6 years, 5 months ago

Buy an led light bulb. www.plasmaled.com or www.theledlight.com Never agree to an illegal search even if you have nothing to hide. compost your poo. Ewwww! Put a speed bump on your street in the middle of the night. buy your food from as close to home as possible. Go get a deer license before a mountain lion eats your kid. properly ventilate your attic and if you got the dough get a 16 ser central Ac unit. Don't mow your lawn so fricken short and water less. I know I hate chiggers too. grow something green in your window and eat it. Cut down the elm or hackberry tree in your yard burn the wood for heat plant a walnut or oak tree in its place. grow some food until the new trees take over the sun. Buy solar powered motion sensor security light from home depot for 80 plus tax. Just give up the coal plants in western Ks.

JJE007 6 years, 5 months ago

After drying your hands in the restroom, use the same paper towel to dry the paper towel release mechanism and dispense the next towel. Use the same towel to open the door on the way out of the restroom. Do not throw the used paper towel on the ground. If you cannot find a handy receptacle, place it in pocket or purse. Barring that, eat it. Chewing recycled paper is good for removing tartar from the teeth and cleansing the bowels!~)

consumer1 6 years, 5 months ago

okay this has been way too funny and nice for far too long. (Great comments, Blue Harley wins it all today.) It is time to incite the folks in this town who really know what is best for all the rest of us. So, I will say. . . Pave over the "un-natural wet lands so we can reduce fossil fuel waste while at the same time reduce pollution in the 23d street corridor. Please keep in mind I am just saying this to turn this wonderful post into a freakish, bantering, diatribe of go nowhere comments by those who spend their young lives thinking they are saving the world. Let's call it a science experiment. NOw lets just sit back and watch this post get ugly.

Tom Shewmon 6 years, 5 months ago

Kneel and pray daily to your Spiritual Advisor and Chief Mentors, Howard Dean and George Soros and donate a few bucks from your Taco Johns paycheck to moveon.org.

blackwalnut 6 years, 5 months ago

By throwing the bums out.

One could start locally, with our very own corrupt city commission.

storm 6 years, 5 months ago

Saying please and thank you, allowing people older than you to go through the door, getting a grocery cart when you're the first one there and handing it over to the parent with a toddler and infant who are next, and other pleasantries...

coolmom 6 years, 5 months ago

i try to do my part and to teach my kids to do theirs but the # 1 thing? Get off your hiney and give a dang!

GretchenJP 6 years, 5 months ago

I agree with Brian Cordill... find the right cause that you feel strongly about and then go out and take action. Or, at least, attempt to open people's minds. If you can't make a difference, get people talking about the cause, at least open other's eyes to your cause and what you're passionate about.

This has been an Oprah Production.

kneejerkreaction 6 years, 5 months ago

lol

H_Lecter 6 years, 5 months ago

Wash your hands

BABBOY 6 years, 5 months ago

Some confused person stated: "Try and be as much like George W. Bush as possible"

Ahhh, I think you misunderstood the question.

Your answer would be appicable to "How does a very below average person screw up the world?"

schula 6 years, 5 months ago

jumpin catfish: I am with you! I had such high hopes for the Cubs this year. I thought it would finally be "next year". I was rooting for the Rockies and the managed to dissapoint as well.

kneejerkreaction 6 years, 5 months ago

Try and be as much like George W. Bush as possible.

jumpin_catfish 6 years, 5 months ago

invent time travel or help the cubs win a world series

Azure_Attitude 6 years, 5 months ago

By b*itching louder than everyone else!!!!

The old cliche works for me: Think Globally, Act Locally.

I give to good causes, volunteer to work at or at events that benefit charitable groups, boycott Wal-Mart and anything FOX/News Corp (this one is especially hard).

Jonathan_Jason_McDaniels 6 years, 5 months ago

I like Lindsay's response.

Great answer, Lindsay!

..........and you're cutie, too! ;)

sigerson 6 years, 5 months ago

Live a life. Lead by example. Change one life. You've made a difference. Repeat as necessary.

Canyon_Wren is right in that it's easier to have an effect locally than to take on the world. That sounds really daunting. Local makes it more bite-sized.

mom_of_three 6 years, 5 months ago

But seriously, our family donates to several charities, and every little bit helps.
Even acts of random kindness makes a difference in someone's day.

mom_of_three 6 years, 5 months ago

LOL, Sue. My husband (who has kitchen duty) would agree!!

sunflower_sue 6 years, 5 months ago

by putting their dishies into the dishwasher instead of on top of the dishwasher. (I know, I know! Opening that door is oh so hard!)

coolmarv 6 years, 5 months ago

Making a difference starts by not thinking of yourself.

guesswho 6 years, 5 months ago

Well, what if I don't love myself, that way I don't have to love my neighbor. Will that make a difference? Nobody said anything about a positive difference.

The_Original_Bob 6 years, 5 months ago

By drinking lots of gin and then posting drunken ramblings overnight on the LJ World message board. Snap covered the essentials. Call people names and cut n paste a lot. It also helps if you have a bloated self-image of yourself.

Flap Doodle 6 years, 5 months ago

Having a couple of dead horses to drag into any conversation is good. Calling anyone who doesn't agree with you an idiot is the key to changing people's opinions.

conservativepunker 6 years, 5 months ago

Vote against The Dragon Lady, Hillary Clinton.

canyon_wren 6 years, 5 months ago

I know I take these questions 'way too seriously, but this one has more answers than it is possible to put in a post. I agree with Jackie, above, as we can make a difference in our own personal world by how we treat those around us. There are many "do-gooders" who embrace global causes who are not the least bit concerned about their neighbors or other people in their own community. I do agree that, if we are so inclined, it is a good idea to pursue a common goal, but not all of us are motivated to spend our energies on national issues. Local efforts do pay off, however, and there is a ripple effect, to some degree.

I also agree with Agnostick that a smile goes a long way--sounds pretty trite, I know, but it does make a difference.

Agnostick 6 years, 5 months ago

Smile! :)))

blue73harley 6 years, 5 months ago

labmonkey - I was speaking of what the theoretical "average" person could do to make a difference. I am far below average...especially in the amount of time that I would have standing around handing out Klondike bars. sigh...maybe when I retire I'll just wander around downtown feeding expired parking meters and handing out Klondike bars with the money I save from eating cat food.

labmonkey 6 years, 5 months ago

blue73harley.....What do you make people do for the Klondike bar?

sourpuss 6 years, 5 months ago

You can't. You're average. Just live your life and enjoy it.

RETICENT_IRREVERENT 6 years, 5 months ago

Making a difference using integers is pretty simple,,,

..................take the minuend 42 ..........remove the subtrahend -12 .......................................__ then you've made a difference =30

Just remember your Latin. Minuend comes from "minuere," which means "to diminish, or reduce." Subtrahend comes from "subtrahere," which means "to take away." The "-end" ending on a verb in Latin says "that which is to be "ed."

I think making a quotient gives people more difficulty.

b3 6 years, 5 months ago

They cant, the difference makers are those of us who stand well above the average pleb.

i_tching 6 years, 5 months ago

It would perhaps be better to ask how the average person might not make a difference, then proceed. See above for several knuckle-headed examples.

juscin3 6 years, 5 months ago

Anyone can make a difference. Just have to get the umph (sp?) to do it. Shouldn't take much though.
So blue, we don't have to do anything to get a free klondike today? :)~

stands in line behind cross to smack jim up side the head. There, I helped make a difference. :)

HAPPY MONDAY EVERYONE!!

jonas 6 years, 5 months ago

They can't. The best bet is to find someone who's above average, and have them group together a bunch of average people into a force of numbers. By being the architect, perhaps the initial average person can maintain some special status for awhile, but likely not for very long.