We celebrate those who change the world rather than those who just talk about it. But isn’t this the western disease? Seeing problems as out there in the world rather than within us, sorting others instead of sorting ourselves? Aren’t most of the world’s biggest problems the result of our previous attempts to make an impact?
Both of the main words in that phrase are problematic. Making something happen implies force or coercion, impact is what happens in collisions.
And isn’t talking, even talking to ourselves in the act of thinking, how the world really changes?
Through having and sharing ideas we perceive the world differently. As a result we act differently. Doing so changes our world and the world of those around us. Perhaps in subtle ways, perhaps over longer timescales than we would like, but no need for “making” and no pain of “impact”.
Don’t just do something, stand there.
The Obvious? 