How big is your shoe?

Although I have never been a Boy Scout, I have had many friends and family members who were. One of the things that they teach the kids really stuck out for me and is something that I strongly identify with. They say you should leave any area that you come to in the same or better condition than you found it. It's called leaving a small footprint on the world around you.

This should kind of go without saying. I mean who is responsible for the state of the world today? That's right people. They say there are around seven billion of us now. And if each person just went through life without paying any attention to their habits and the impact they have on the world, the world would quickly become a wreck. What's that you say? It is a wreck?

When I first heard about this concept it appealed to me. I liked the idea of leaving every area that I passed through the exact same way I found it. I could tread in the footprints of other people and leave none of my own. It seemed stealthy and ninja like. Better yet, there would be no negative impact on society. I could make sure, that I personally did not make the world a worse place than it already is.

I patterned my life after this ideal and still follow many of the habits that got started by this thought process. I wash all of my own clothes and the dishes I use. When leaving a room I make sure to throw away any napkins, bags or wrappers that I may be responsible for. I do not expect anybody to come behind me and clean up any mess I make. I do it myself. And no I do not live by myself. Currently there are four other adults living in my home.

You may have noticed that I initially locked onto leaving things in the same condition. But after awhile I started thinking. What if everybody did what I was doing? Wouldn't it be awesome? The world would not get any worse.

But it would not get any better either. And that started to bother me because I have nearly always believed that individuals are responsible for how the world is today. Individual action can and does make a difference. Don't believe me? Think about it this way. If all of the individuals were removed from the planet would there be any people left?

When people say one person can't make a difference, what they really mean is that when weighed against the actions of all the other people out there, that one person's efforts do not make a difference. And they are right. But, what they fail to realize is that when other people see one person taking a stand and doing something that they believe they also should be doing, other people start to emulate that one person. Soon one person becomes five and five become twenty and twenty become a whole community.

It occurred to me that in order to make the world a  better place, all it takes is for everybody to leave things in a better condition than they found them. Think about small details around your home. Maybe you have a drying rack for your dishes. Let's say you personally wash dry and put away every dish you use plus you put away one item already in the drying rack. From this point forward none of the dirty dishes laying around the house would be yours and that would be about it. But if you got everyone in your home to do this there would never be any dirty dishes lying around. And the drying rack would quickly become empty and stay empty, leaving less clutter in your kitchen. It only takes an extra minute or two, to wash whatever dishes you use. And it does make your home a better place.

Think about all the other chores around your house, laundry, the garbage or whatever there is, it all works the same way. If you handle everything that you are responsible for and then in each area take care of just one extra item that does not belong to you, your impact on your home becomes positive. If you get others in your home to do the same, then your home becomes a better place.

The best part about it is this concept scales with the effort you and yours are willing to put into it. First you can change your home. Then your home can be an example for others in the community. Then you can work on changing your community. Then you and your community can change the world.

So, in closing, I say this. Leave a big footprint on the world. Just make it a good one.