Sometimes, when you least expect it, things change markedly. Sometimes, the change is driven by one person, a pebble on the scale. Suddenly, the whole balance tips. Around us, scales are in equipoise, inertia seems in charge, little ever changing. Until … the pebble.

For those given to doubt, quick with comebacks, sure that inertia – in physics and human relations – carries the day, my preemption, recommendation without hesitation: Think harder.

You are at a town meeting, school performance, sports event, or ballet, witness a courageous remark, poignant recital, solo instrument, great move – and you clap. Suddenly everyone claps. You were the pebble.

Less common, more difficult, you break further from the crowd. Seeing something spectacular –a great speech, well-acted play, moving concert, great shot, win hard fought, and you speak up, maybe stand up, give a standing clap. Suddenly there is an ovation. You were the pebble.

Simpler and less obvious, you may put hidden effort into something – a tug-o-war, stroke in an eight, hold the line, hit that high note, collect for a charity, write a letter. More heroically, you might apply extra effort to check on a friend, deliver food to the sick, notice a missing person, strain to see the unseen, find what is unfound, be uncommon, and run the thing to ground.

And what happens then? Your side tugs harder – and wins. The line is held – and momentum shifts. A modest performance – becomes memorable. The charity – surpasses its goal. That letter is read and alters another’s sense of value, reminding them they matter.

Or – when an afterthought became a thought, turns out that friend needed you, food was vital, a missing person gets discovered, the unseen is seen, the unfound is found, unlikely done – because of one. You were the pebble.

Cynics and grumblers have always existed and live among us. They comprise the crowd. They say percentages are small, chances unlikely, impact limited, effort disproportionate to outcome. They are wrong.

Most great and many good things start “against the odds,” a crowd persuaded that one man’s effort is inconsequential – until someone shows the effort, takes the step, challenges the odds – and dares to act from conviction.

Not so? So! The Founding Fathers were few, their convictions radical, empire arrayed against them, Bill of Rights treason, until their small voice grew into a chorus, chorus an army, army a nation, and that nation became us. They started an avalanche.

Same in other ways and places. Mahatma Gandhi – like Martin Luther King – was out of step, the notion that power resided in non-violent action considered absurd. They were mocked, the idea impractical. From Gandhi’s conviction came an Independent India; from King’s came focus, widening circles of equality, support for an idea, equal access to the American Dream.

In Communist Poland, Lech Walesa – and democracy activists like founding Solidarity member, Antoni Stavikowski – were dreamers, sure to bring the Soviet hammer down, their vision impossible, not in a thousand lifetimes. Only they did not believe that.

They persisted until their entire nation strained for the freedom envisioned, until their efforts caught fire – and the attention of three other visionaries, Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, and Pope John Paul II.

Not only did the visionaries’ dream come true – Poland shedding Soviet communism – it inspired and dovetailed with dreams of all Soviet captives.  Resolve of a very few grew – until death mattered less than realizing the dream, bringing the Soviet Union down. They were the pebble.

So, while percentages may be small, great outcomes are achievable – and get that way because a few ignore the odds,. As for impact and effort, whether the mission is personal or national, can there be a question?

All this comes back to that pebble, and the coming year. As 2023 takes wing, Americans face challenges at home, economic and political disharmony, plus worries abroad. The question is – have we the foresight and courage to stand, to circle back, to believe, and individually to lead?

Or will we blend into the crowd, be dissuaded by the pile of rocks at the other end, and dismiss both our power and the power of history? Perhaps 2023 will be the year it could be, should be – a year of positive change, an inflection point. The future is – as always – unknown, past an uneasy guide, but … anything is possible when, often by surprise, you realize – you can be the pebble.  

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