Every 9 minutes, 300,000 pounds of plastic, the weight of a blue whale, makes it’s way into the ocean. This blue whale is made from single use plastics. Months of cleaning, pressing and sorting led to the creation of this life sized whale by the Monterey Aquarium.The whale now sits on Crissy Field in San Francisco. It is a reminder of how important it is that we don’t just recycle but we also reuse and reduce. It is a call to action; an invitation to take that first step and not worry about the second step.
What is your call to action? What stirs you to take that first step?
As I walked by the whale, I watched to see how many people got curious about the giant whale sitting in the grass. Certainly, some people have already seen it multiple times. Yet, I stood by the whale by myself. I wondered how many people actually stopped to read the signs to learn about why this whale was resting in the lawn? Did the people who stop consider their own behavior change? Did they take a first step?
A call to action can be a nudge, a tickle, or even a push into the discomfort zone. Behavior change is not easy, it takes baby steps. In our workplaces, we are called to change our behaviors to better serve the team, individual colleagues or clients. In our homes, we are called to share space and time. In our communities, we are called to act on what stirs us. Yet how many of us actually step into that place of discomfort and say…this is my first step towards changing what matters to me, my home, my community.
A step towards change is all we really need to do to create a ripple or wave of change. As the poet David Whyte reminds us “Start close in, Don’t take the second step
or the third, start with the first thing close in, the step you don’t want to take.”
This whale is beautiful, and it ultimately is a call to action. You might even want to consider what you could reduce or reuse.
Yet, perhaps the best thing you can do is have a conversation with your family, friends and colleagues. What is stirring you? What do you want to change at home, work or in your community. And then ask, what is one step you each can take? Take the first step. Perhaps the step you don’t want to take. Start close in. The rest of the steps will follow.
Let me know the step you take!
Start Close In
by David Whyte
Start close in,
don’t take the second step
or the third,
start with the first
thing
close in,
the step
you don’t want to take.
Start with
the ground
you know,
the pale ground
beneath your feet,
your own
way to begin
the conversation.
Start with your own
question,
give up on other
people’s questions,
don’t let them
smother something
simple.
To hear
another’s voice,
follow
your own voice,
wait until
that voice
becomes an
intimate
private ear
that can
really listen
to another.
Start right now
take a small step
you can call your own
don’t follow
someone else’s
heroics, be humble
and focused,
start close in,
don’t mistake
that other
for your own.
Start close in,
don’t take
the second step
or the third,
start with the first
thing
close in,
the step
you don’t want to take.
A David Whyte poem from
River Flow: New & Selected Poems
Many Rivers Press
