I found the reading and podcast to be very inspirational and a nice thought-provoking way to begin to wrap things up for the semester. One of the quotes from the reading that stuck out to me was “Sometimes we convince ourselves that the ‘unnoticed’ gestures of ‘insignificant’ people mean nothing” (p. 51). This is something that I think about a lot and try to combat. A simple example of this is if someone is walking down the street and sees a piece of trash, maybe small enough to stick in a pocket and throw away later or not too far from a trash can. That person can either ignore it and continue walking, or pick it up and throw it away. I see this on campus all the time. For whatever reason, people leave trash around or pile on top of full cans, ultimately littering and creating someone else’s job more difficult. It is such a simple task to reach down and pick something up to throw away, yet many people have convinced themselves that that task is insignificant. The dilemma intensifies when no one is around, or at least if you think no one is around. Then the decision seems to be even easier for people, removing the fear of judgment if they fail to pick something up. But why is this? Sure picking up only one piece of trash makes only a small difference, but if 7 billion people each pick up one thing, the world would be a much cleaner place. I see a lot on social media about blaming big corporations, and it’s certainly true that they are responsible for more than their fair share of pollution or corruption or whatever it may be, but I think it’s a dangerous mindset to always point fingers. Every action has an impact on something and I think that’s easy to forget. Like the reading said, you don’t have to be a famed hero or saint to make a difference.