Does this improve on the silence?
In this moment, I’ve got nothing. I am grief-stricken on micro and macro levels—basically overwhelmed, and struck dumb with it.
Just as well, because what I do have would only add to the cacophony that’s already burying what precious silence might help us find our way in this world. (I almost followed that up with a show-offy list of things that are wrong with the world, which helps nobody and does nothing…) read more
Finn Jackson. A quiet force for good in the world.
Finn Jackson, in his own humble way, has restored the tattered remains of whatever hope I’d lost in the bonfire of recent years. I know that’s saying a lot. But it’s positive actions like Finn’s that make a difference.
He majored in Environmental Studies. The year after he graduated, while most young people are either floundering in existential angst or dreaming of grandeur while thumbing their phones, he had an idea.
Cody, Wyoming, where he lived, has a recycling center, but there was no curbside pickup. Residents of Cody would have to summon the initiative to drive their own recycling to the center—which maybe some of them did, but no everyone. Not by a long shot.
With his own gumption, his contacts in the town and social media, he spread the word that for $5.00, he would come by your house, pick up your recycling, and get it to the center.
He did this on his bike. Outfitted it with a special trailer and big bags that he filled, house by house, taking home and sorting the bunch. Then, with his car, he drove it to the recycling center—starting all over again, because, I mean, there’s only so much you can carry on a bike.
Maybe this story doesn’t make the New York Times. But that’s our problem. We’re so addicted to doing things on an impossibly grand scale that we forget about our own fingers and feet. Let’s scale back a little, so we can do real things. Let’s start with our own good hearts, our own willingness to make things happen, and pedal our own “bike,” so to speak. Turn our bikes into vehicles that help other people, not just vehicles that get us where we’re going.
It won’t surprise you that Finn’s unselfishness did move him closer to where he was going. He got a job in Boulder, Colorado with an environmental nonprofit—largely based on the incredible initiative he took in Cody.
So thank you, Finn Jackson, for being one of the many unsung lights that are—right now, as we speak—lifting this world out of darkness.
(Please nominate anyone you know—of any age, type, or idiosyncrasy—that is doing something good for the world. Doesn’t matter how small. I want to amplify the lights shining in the darkness. Send your stories here.)
Something So Good.
Watched this in the middle of the night, while I was spinning out about the state of the world. This is just a long string of very short stories that will restore your faith in the world. Check it out. You won’t be sorry.