I think that people as individuals are small but their actions can be huge. If people have the attitude of the quote, society as a whole will never advance and grow. Each individual plays a vital role when it comes to making an impact. The collective efforts of each individual makes all the diffrence. When I think of this quote, I think of the movie pay it foward. In this movie a young kid comes up with a project where you do something good for a person and then that person does something good for someone else and it keeps going in a snowball effect. This shows the power of the individual and how important each person's efforts are in society.

I disagree with this quote because people matter in this world. Every day this world changes and it changes because of the people that live in it. Yes, people are small and there are people out there that probably could not even “better their corner of the world,” but there are also people out there that can do that and more. I mean you see today how other countries have instilled their influence in America with restaurants, cars, etc. They are trying to better our corner of the world through means of food and “nice foreign” cars. So yeah, people are small there are people that might not be able to have the same power as others, but to say that they “don’t matter” is a shallow statement. People matter because its people that shape the world and how it is today.

Journal 8 - Small People, Big World

This is a very interesting comment/quote to me for several different reasons. First of all, let me say that I am not going to jump on either side and declare a right and wrong because I feel there are a couple shades of grey with both. For the first part “People are small…” I could not agree more. People tend to too often think of themselves as quasi-gods with unlimited importance. This is one of mankind’s greatest downfalls. If this were an infallible rule however then many of the great deeds, inventions, and contributions of mankind would not exist. For such great things to occur people must believe that they are unstoppable in achieving their goals of achieving this or helping that. Moving on to “…and most don’t matter…” I would have to say this is basically the same argument I just qualified; that on a universal cosmic scale the human population is not even worth mentioning, but to ourselves we could not matter more. The happiness of our species is almost entirely based upon the energies, attentions, and gifts we are constantly exchanging amongst each other. Thus, many would argue against the notion that “most don’t matter.” “[T]hey should be concerned with bettering their corner of the world and nothing larger.” Now once again, I have mixed contextual opinions about this assertion. As a whole, too few people are concerned with the welfare of other people that they will never meet or hear of in their entire lives. Throughout human history this lack of indiscriminate compassion has contributed to the proliferation of war, violence, and pain inflicted on others. Now, human psychologists would argue that this is merely human nature and should not be interpreted as evil or subhuman. It makes much evolutionary sense as those who felt more strongly about their clansmen than ‘foreign’ parties would fight harder to maintain one’s culture. While in my opinion I think every man and woman should practice a healthy dose of humility and sense of understanding daily, there is a vital importance of not allowing thoughts of good versus evil, right versus wrong, etc. to overwhelm and obsess your thoughts. This leads to a lack of fulfillment and happiness as a perfect world can never EVER be attained. We must all learn to live our own lives while understanding that everyone else is doing the same with the total right to.

People are not Small

I have to disagree with this statement. If everyone were to be selfish by only being concerned about the bettering of their corner of the world, we would not be where we are today. People can make a difference if they set their mind to it. By caring for the betterment of the world, people have given the planet many wonderful inventions and progress that has made living a lot easier for everyone. It is hard to do big things by yourself, and everyone always needs help every once in a while. If you help people, they will remember and might help you out in the future, plus it feels good when you help someone in need. We can see how people do care about the betterment of the world when famous and rich people donate money to charities. The quote says that “people are small and don’t matter”. This is completely false because people can become big and powerful and effect the world around us. Besides presidents, we can look at people like Bill Gates, Martin Luther King Jr., Thomas Edison, etc. Although people do try to better themselves, most people are not 100% selfish and will go out to help out others, especially their friends.

life is a journey

i completely disagree with this statement. i think that people define who they are by their actions. you can choose what you do with your life. if you set goals for yourself and demand to meet your own expectations you will thrive in life. this is what makes the difference between over achievers and slackers. for instance, in high school, to be honest, i never had to really study that hard. i had a very very high GPA and always excelled. there were a few times where i had to push myself and accomplish things. i was considered an over achiever. i was involved in many things like clubs, sports and extracurricular activities. being in college now, meeting all these is very hard. but, if you keep trying and demanding excellence it will come. my 2 favorite quotes are, "when you play, play hard; when you work don't play at all", and "Failing to prepare is preparing to fail." i believe in these quotes very much. i think about them daily and they keep me persevering on my journey of excellence. i am now on the dean's list and in 3 honor societies. it is people who define what life was, is and will be.

Small people making a difference

I 100% disagree with this statement. If we didn’t have people fighting for what they believe in or trying to better society as a whole then we would be stuck back during the times of slavery. One person CAN make a difference. For example, though just one person may be small, they are talking to a community of people with the same beliefs therefore getting other people involved. This one person can organize protests and meetings in which the group can meet. They single handedly organize a mass of people to help fight what they are fighting which gets recognized by the media. By involving the media it is known to the rest of the world and maybe can have a big enough impact to actually change what they are fighting for. Women’s suffrage would have never been achieved without the women’s rights activists and slavery would have never been ended without their advocates and mainly Martin Luther King. Today one person can do a lot for the country. Fighting for what we believe in is our right and we can make a difference if we make a big enough statement about something widely known with many supporters. If one person can gather enough people to make a big enough impact to help end slavery, I am pretty sure that in today’s society, many years later and with much more media coverage, that one person can do a lot to change the outlook of society on a particular situation.

Small People

I completely disagree with this statement. People should be concerned with what is going on around the world, and not just in there own community. I believe this is actually the problem with a lot of the world. People are only concerned with what they have to deal with everyday. They only are only concerned with the betterment of their lives and not the world around them. For example, we spent millions on airplanes, nice cars, nice houses, and pay athletes huge amounts of money, but we can't help poverished countries like Africa where the children are dying of starvation and numerous diseases. I believe that if we all kept to our little corners of the world then the world would not be as diverse as it is and would only make our growing problems in the world even bigger. Its like saying this all I have to do and no more. With an end to a goal then no one can continue on a progressive plan. Individuals have to keep on continually making goals because goals are what drive people and keep them motivated on the task at hand.