Think Big. Start Small. Act Now.
by Nick Allsop
Sitting in the hub of a Pentagon City Starbucks on June 15, 2010, amongst the die-hard coffee addicts needing their early evening fix, I sat down with two Washington, DC locals: William McNulty and Drew Lewis.
Both members of Team Rubicon, a non-profit organization that looks to bridge the critical gap between large natural disasters and conventional aid response, these two men uttered the simplest yet powerful and inspiring words I have heard to date: Think Big: Start Small: Act Now.
These six simple words have embodied the power of every great idea.
For Jake Wood, founder of Team Rubicon, his big idea came from watching the local news of Hurricane Katrina and her ravaging aftermath with the knowledge that his schooling as a United States solider could have come in hand in handy. On January 12, 2010 when Haiti was hit with a destructive earthquake, Wood took initiative by simply posting a Facebook status stating “Haiti, who’s in?” After a couple days, Wood quickly gained a small team of Army veteran recruits who made the trek to Port-au-Prince to begin helping civilians before international organizations were even able to touch down.
This was the simple start of Team Rubicon.
For Dave Smith, a senior at University of California Berkeley eight years ago, his start began when he received a letter from administration that tuition would increase. Dave realized this would end his college education. Already living in an overcrowded apartment and working two jobs, Smith set out to stop the increase by gathering his supporters of the cause. Starting with only a couple of close friends, Dave managed to gather 110 students to go and talk to their state congressmen and women. From the conversations that took place on March 11, 2002 and that would later be known as Cal Lobby Day, the tuition spike was stopped and Mobilize.org was born. By dreaming big, starting small, and acting, Dave single handedly started a movement to change the way millennials engage in democratic action.
Both the stories of Jake Wood and Dave Smith embody my perception of how powerful these six simple words really are: Think Big: Start Small: Act Now.
It is my perspective that the Millennial Generation has the most potential to utilize the power of these words. We are the generation of Blackberries, iPhones and Droids. Through the internet we have the ability to access libraries of books through LexisNexis and Google Books. Our friends are a click away on social networks such as Facebook and LinkedIn. We are the generation of collaboration.
Personally, I still have not found the mission that fuels me to take action. I am graduating college in less than a year and I do not have a decisive passion yet. I care about the world, society and the progression of life, but I still am searching. And frankly that is OK. Not everyone finds their driving force before they leave high school or college. The one thing I do know however is that when that time does come, I’ll have the tools to do it. I’ll have the technology. I’ll have the mindset and I’ll be more than ready.
Think Big. Start Small. Act Now.
Follow Nick on Twitter @njallsop.
