When did you matter?

[Photographer]

Hello,

When did anything you say, believe or write make any difference????

On the Caithness.Org site there is a bit of the have your say theme.

So.

Does having your say make any, any difference??

Me. Obviously I say No Chance.

You may end up agreeing with the outcome- But - Make a difference??????

A vote (binding in law) 5x4 maybe a difference. But your opinion :-( Not a hope.

Your answer. Don't bother. Makes no difference.

[squidge]

I was on Radio 4 this last week. Did what I said matter? Yes I think it did. It mattered to me and from the feedback I got it mattered to a few others too. Did I make a difference? I dont know. Maybe but probably not.

Sometimes you have to speak up and Caithness.org is a bit like that. I have an opinion. If i change someone's mind great, if not then so be it.
Some things, equality, fairness, matter so much to me that I cant
ignore stuff that is said which is unfair or prejudiced. I have to say
something. Sometimes im just gobby but i try not to offend or dismiss
other peoples opinion and i enjoy the discussions mostly even if they are exasperating on occasions.

I dont expect to change the world but I like the fact that I want to try.

[golach]

I dont expect to change the world but I like the fact that I want to try. Totally agree Squidge

[joxville]

The major problem is a lot of people try to change the world when really, they should change themselves. They go at things full pelt and damn anyone who disagrees with them or gets in their way. That's why this world is so screwed up. You just have to look at the threads on here concerning environmental issues to see how forthright people are in their opinions and will not be swayed, they will rarely concede a point just to save face, regardless of whichever side they are arguing for. Personally, if I'm wrong about something then I'll accept it; I do try to see others points of view, it's all part of learning and understanding, but don't try ram it down my throat, that's when I walk away and your opinion becomes meaningless.

[brandy]

every single day and every thing i say.. i have children, they see what i do and learn from it. so i try and temper the things that i say and do, so that it reflects well onto them.

[Phill]

Making a difference depends on how you are measuring the outcome, very subjective I'd think.
Even if stating your point of view doesn't alter the point of view of another, but it makes them think more about it, is that enough of a difference?

Maybe 'tis but a butterfly effect.

[pmcd]

"It's A Wonderful Life". Says it all. You think you're a no-account, until you have your nose rubbed into the effects of you not having been there - for good and ill. We are of course nothing more than specks in the universe. But we all make a difference. Embrace it!

[davem]

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. Edmund Burke

[John Little]

I agree with Phill. It does depend how you measure it. And a difference to what?



Even your slightest word of action can impact on another individual and change their life.

People who do not realise that can cause a lot of damage.

But sure - you make a difference. I have a book now which I intend to read and which I would not have thought of doing were it not for a thread on here.

Even your asking the question makes a difference because you have made people think about it - and themselves.

[squidge]

However, lest we get above ourselves here is a poem that I like to read now and again.


There Is No Indispensable Man
by Saxon N. White Kessinger, Copyright 1959

Sometime when you're feeling important;
Sometime when your ego's in bloom
Sometime when you take it for granted
You're the best qualified in the room,

Sometime when you feel that your going
Would leave an unfillable hole,
Just follow these simple instructions
And see how they humble your soul;

Take a bucket and fill it with water,
Put your hand in it up to the wrist,
Pull it out and the hole that's remaining
Is a measure of how you will be missed.

You can splash all you wish when you enter,
You may stir up the water galore,
But stop and you'll find that in no time
It looks quite the same as before.

The moral of this quaint example
Is do just the best that you can,
Be proud of yourself but remember,
There's no indispensable man.

[shazzap]

Good ditty. Squidge. I am going to borrow it.

[Corrie 3]

Your answer. Don't bother. Makes no difference.
OK, I wont bother !!

C3................:roll:;)

[Rheghead]

I already know of at least one marketing company and several other companies, not to mention a few politicians (and those aspiring to be) who use this forum to gauge public opinion on issues pertaining on a local and national level. So I guess our opinions do matter.

[billmoseley]

everything you say to people makes a difference maybe not life changing but things we say affect opinions so make a difference

[Photographer]

Fundamentally the replies seem to advocate the 'butterfly theory'.

Desperation drives many a driven person. Desperate, not to make a difference parse, more to justify their own existence.

Still, a difference is what it is even if it is only within ourselves.

For me it is better to accept myself as I see me and others as I see them with all the distortion there is in my vision and I assume others.

It may be that my existence is enough to have an affect on something without any effort at all. My experience however says that the more an individual pushes the more they are likely to be perverted by that single-mindedness and the less likely they are to really change anything for the better (as they see it).

You may mention a few (very few) names that on a worldwide scale have historically made a difference but even they have yet to be subjected to the tests of real time and lets face it to comparison. Hypothetical reasoning aside; I am of the mind that a whisper hurts, hinders or helps far more readily than a shout but I do not expect my opinion to make a ha'pth of difference :-)