What’s Mine To Do?
There are times when looking at the world can become overwhelming.
Everywhere you turn, you see suffering in your communities, instability in the larger culture, people who are struggling, systems that are not working well, and problems so large that it can be difficult to imagine what any one person could possibly do.
At those times, I often return to a simple question:
What is mine to do?
I have asked myself this question for many years, and I have offered it to others when they feel helpless in the face of something they care deeply about.
It is not a demand for an immediate answer.
Sometimes the most useful thing is simply to ask the question and allow it to remain in your awareness.
What is mine to do?
Then go on living your life.
Notice what catches your attention. Notice what continues to bother you. Notice the conversation you keep having, the person you unexpectedly meet, the organization someone mentions, the idea that appears while you are driving, walking, or making dinner.
The answer may arrive quickly or it may arrive months later. And sometimes it arrives somewhere entirely different from where you expected to find it.
The question is not asking you to solve everything you can see.
It is asking you to notice where your life actually touches the world.
That distinction matters.
I cannot solve child hunger in the United States. The scale of the problem is far beyond anything I could personally address.
Yet I know there are children in a neighborhood near me who regularly go to school hungry. That bothers me, so I attend to those neighbors in a way
that has meaning and an appropriate scale for my family.
I’m practical. Bringing food, clothing, and other material needs to SisterHood doesn’t solve the complex issues that people in this neighborhood face. Yet, it serves in its small way to touch bellies, clothe kids, offer school supplies, and bring small relief to the adults and teens alike.
If that issue or any bothers you, you might volunteer with an organization that already knows how to reach those families. You might donate money or supplies. You might learn which organizations are doing the work particularly well, align with your values, and direct your resources there.
I do not have to solve hunger to feed someone. This is what I mean by working at scale.
Sometimes you become immobilized in helplessness because you are mentally standing in front of the entire problem.
Climate change. Poverty. Violence. Loneliness. Children who are struggling. Older adults who are forgotten. People without adequate medical care. Animals who need protection. Families who cannot afford food. Young adults unable to find jobs. Parents losing jobs.
The scale is enormous. Of course you feel helpless at times.
But somewhere between doing nothing and fixing everything is the size at which a human life can actually participate.
There may be a very particular intersection between what bothers you, what you know how to do, what you have access to, and what you genuinely have the energy to participate in.
That intersection may be what is yours.
Not necessarily the largest problem. Not necessarily the person suffering most. And not the thing that would look most meaningful or impressive to someone else.
You locate the place where your actual capacity meets an actual need.
Perhaps you have time or money. You may understand technology, gardens, children, finance, medicine, animals, education, construction, writing, or caregiving. Maybe you’re a great listener, know how to organize projects, make a room full of people feel welcome, or just know someone who knows someone.
Perhaps you have lived through something that allows you to sit beside another person without being frightened by what they are experiencing.
There is one important consideration here. It’s important to make sure you have enough space in your own life right now to help.
If not, make some notes for the future. The world will need you then. It doesn’t need one more stretched person adding something to their plate.
You might notice that you have some capacity here.
Then ask: Where could it actually be useful?
There is no guilt required in that question. No moral scorecard. No obligation to make your life into a service project.
There are problems you will perceive that are not yours to solve. There are people you will care about whom you cannot rescue. There are systems you may understand quite clearly and still have no meaningful ability to change.
Discernment includes knowing that too.
“What is mine to do?” is not another way of asking, “What should I be
doing?”
It is quieter than that. It requires listening. Sometimes this question asks something of you.
Agency. Capacity. Responsibility. Relationship.
This question invites additional thoughtful questions.
Can I act?
Can I tolerate what acting requires?
Can I take responsibility for the part that is actually mine?
Can I do that while remaining in relationship with the people around me?
These are not small capacities.
They are part of how a human being becomes able to participate in the world without either turning away from what matters or becoming consumed by everything that hurts.
You do not have to understand the whole web.
Nor do you have to carry the complexity of the world’s troubles. You only have to discover where your thread meets it.
If something in the world is troubling you and you do not know what to do with that feeling, perhaps you do not need to force an answer.
Simply ask the question:
What is mine to do?
Let it travel with you for a while. And then notice what Life places in front of you.
Peace be with you and with all. No exceptions.
