Ah, graduation season. New high school and college graduates ready to change their lives and take on the world. Everyone is so optimistic and proud, surrounded by messages of, “Go out and change the world,” or “You can do anything!” Commencement speeches about creating a better world and social justice. "You'll all change the world," we're told. But that isn’t necessarily true. You may not change the world, and that’s OK.
Let me say it again: you might not change the world, and that’s OK. Not everyone is destined to be the next Mother Theresa, Barack Obama or Jennifer Lawrence. And, odds are, your life is not going to have a significant impact on the world outside of your own little realm of existence. But it doesn’t need to.
In my opinion, the most important thing is to be happy with yourself and proud of yourself and, more often than not, that doesn’t require being extraordinary. Having a stable job, great friends and family and a good education is something to be proud of, even if that’s something countless other people have. You don’t have to excel at anything in particular to be happy, and that’s why it’s OK to be ordinary.
We live in a time of social change, and everyone is touched by this change and called to be a part of the change. But what are we, small time, ordinary people, supposed to do to impact a huge social movement? What if we don’t want to change our entire lives in order to fight for the rights of other people? Some may call that selfish, I call it realistic. If you don’t want to be a social activist, don’t. That’s OK. Everyone has different paths — maybe yours is to be "ordinary."
You can live 70 years, or 80 years, or 100 years, and never make a significant impact on the world as a whole, but what’s more important is making an impact on your community, your social circle, your friends and family. The people that would stand by you through anything, those are the people we should work to impact for the better. Maybe that’s nothing special, but to me, it is. Think of a local hero: your grandfather, your neighbor, your pastor. How did that person impact your life for the better? Be that change.
In this time when we’re all being told to go out and change the world, remember this: it’s OK if you don’t. It’s OK to be ordinary — to work a desk job and hang out with friends and family on the weekend. You don’t have to change the world to change your world and create your own happiness. And, in my opinion, that’s the most important part of a successful life.
