TO GO LOCAL OR GLOBAL?

Q: Is it okay to start a local change rather than making it a big global change?
 
Start where you are.

For those needing to go to Afghanistan, to prove something. Please don’t. You don’t have to.

Proving that you are good enough. Proving that it can be done, whatever idea, project or humanitarian aims you have. Proving a  personal, spiritual crusade. Whatever!

No, don’t try to get into conflict environments and hostile situations where your life or health will be in danger. Even if you escape alive from it, the scars will be there in your psyche. It can heal but the post-traumatic stress disorder can scar you for life. It is not worth the accolades, promotion, recognition, and other externalities that might come afterward. 

The risks are too high to make a substantial investment and effort on the ground. That’s why they have drones, remote surveillance, and other technologically powered systems to do that. Machines are better suited for these times of environment.

Well, you would say that some people went to Afghanistan now and they were fine. While the capital and other locations are perfectly safe, there is no guarantee that these areas are 100% safe. A bomb can explode in any place, even at 5-star hotel or airport (usually).

They came knowing that there were risks involved and accepted that fully well. Some of them have been in the battle zones and have coping and safety experiences that have been proven to alleviate the risks involved in their operations. There is always a choice to go or not to go.

Start locally and see where you can advance from there. Your life and mental, psychological health will need you for the rest of your career.

Local change is different than global change. Local is hands-on, doable, easy to measure, and changes take time too but it is felt right away.

For a global complex change, no one organization and/or person can mightily say that they have turned things around. It is always a confluence of many factors, forces, and occurrences that have promoted the direction of change or improved the lives of people for the better. Some of these are external to the country and cannot be controlled by any single entity. Macroeconomic forces such as capital flows, globalization, world wide web /Internet, ICTs have made profound shifts in many countries’ development.

The world has put a premium on global change because it has more glorified icons attached to it. Local heroes are the same as those global heroes. Same DNA make-up and characteristics propel them to the level of stature.

What is important in the end is, have you made your country, community, village better than what it used to be by your contribution?