Back when the “Green Movement” was known as “Ecology” and when “rapping” was not something accompanied by a beat, I was a Midwestern girl with intentions to change the world.  So it was not surprising that when Ralph Nader came to my college campus, I was one of the first in line to see him.  It was shortly after he had caused the stir that created seat belts and his youthful antiestablishment/”power to the people” message stirred my own social activism.  A picture from the front page of the college newspaper shows him speaking to a rapt audience – and me in the front row, pigtailed and bell-bottomed, sitting crosslegged on the gym floor gazing intently at him.  Truly a moment of inspiration.

However, the truth of the situation is that if you looked again at the picture, there is a gorgeous guy sitting next to me named Jeff Carr, whom I had been wanting to get to know, and I spent the entire lecture thinking about how cool it was that he was next to me, that we could talk about it on the way out, that this would be the beginning a beautiful relationship, how cute our kids would be….   I have no idea what Ralph Nader said.  

So when the opportunity came this week to go hear Ralph Nader, a couple of decades later, I jumped on it.  Assured that there would be no Jeff Carr to distract me, I was eager to hear his message on social entrepreneurship.  And he did not disappoint.  Outside of a few curmudgeony statements, like “What is this obsession with music?!”, he remains an inspiration to “just do it”.  It is more than a little humbling to look at what I have accomplished over the past 40 years, versus his list.  

His message conveyed a sense of urgency, that time is a wasting, people.  He expressed his frustration with society and how the “trivialization of time is staggering”.  We cannot afford to act as if we have all the time in the world to solve our problems, for if we refuse to act, our days could indeed be numbered. 

I left there pumped up and ready for the fight.  The only problem is, fighting for what?  Days before I had been in a state of perpetual frustration over trying to figure out what was next for me and had just come to the acceptance that time takes time.  This was going to be a process and I needed to allow it to unfold. Now I was feeling that urgency again.  I had the fuel, but where was the vehicle? 

I wish I could say I have since found the answer and am charging down my path.  Interestingly enough, maybe I am and I don’t even know it.  One of my favorite authors, Kent Nerburn, in his book Simple Truths talks about it being the small touches that become our legacy to the universe.  He says, “If we have played our part well, offering love where it was needed, strength and caring where it was lacking; if we tended the earth and its creatures with a sense of humble stewardship, we will have done enough.”

Maybe I am not destined to be a Ralph Nader and have a resume of accomplishments that far exceed the recommended 1-2 pages.  Maybe my work will not cure the ills of many or cause social change in the world.  Maybe my path is a simpler one but still mportant in the grand scheme of the universe none the less. 

I may not ever know how my life touches another but I do know how they touch me.  So thank you to all of you who have in your own way, shaped my life to be what it is today.  And thank you, Ralph Nader, for your inspiration, your vision, and your continued message of social activism.  That and for letting me meet Jeff Carr.