Do It Anyway: The Path of the Quiet Renegade

DO IT ANYWAY

a poem held dear by Mother Teresa

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered.
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind,
people may accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful,
you will win some false friends and some true enemies.
Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank,
people may cheat you.
Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building,
someone could destroy overnight.
Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness,
they may be jealous.
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today,
people will often forget tomorrow.
Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have,
and it may never be enough.
Give the best you’ve got anyway.

You see,
in the final analysis it is between you and God;
it was never between you and them anyway.

The Pull of Darkness, a Call to Light

We live in a world where, so often, the darkness seems to snuff out the light. Large- and small-scale politics create divides in opinion (and become actionable barriers in society). Disappointments generate stories and stigmas that last for decades. Conflicts cause tension between nations, families, and even individual personalities. 

For instance, we’re much more likely to remember the person who cuts us off in line than someone who obeys the speed limit. A thief instead of a charitable donor. The loud, bigoted language over politeness. News headlines are notorious for hostility; social media sites can be even worse.

This emphasis is partially due to the human condition. We tend to have a strong negativity bias that keeps us focused on the shadows—especially when it’s made personal, like when someone doubts our ability to do something or downright lambastes something about us. 

Tuning into the storms instead of the steadiness of sunshine, we are susceptible to becoming jaded. And in that space, the people and things that disagree are inherently taken as “threats.”

But with honest awareness and loving intention rooted in our hearts, we can defy the weight of darkness. It’s a choice of doing good despite all other wrongs, finding a reason to love amid all the challenges of life. 

Mother Teresa embodied this tender defiance, and so can we. One way to do so is by embracing the path of a quiet renegade.

The Myth of Smallness

One of the facets of our cynicism is the general belief that unless an impact is large, it won’t effect widespread change. In casual terms, we say “go big or go home.” We equate “bigger” with “better” because capitalistic ideals thrive this way. Yet this belief is also how we end up excusing the majority of our mindless actions and attitudes.

Do any of these sound familiar?

• “It’s just one straw (or napkin or piece of paper). In the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t matter.” 
• “So what if it’s recyclable? All the waste streams go to the same place anyway.”
• “Literally no one else does that. You’re such a try-hard.”
• “This impact is too small to really change anything.”
• “[Entity with money, status, or influence] has too much power over this. It’s their game, not ours. We just have to deal with it.”
• “It’s always been this way. No point in changing it.”
• “Why bother when no one else cares?”

These are really convenient excuses for inaction. If we let ourselves believe that we’re too small, uninfluential, and disconnected from the rest of the world, then we’re putting limits on our infinite potential. We end up feeling like intention is naught and effort is meaningless.

The Reality of Personal Effort Going to Waste

Societal systems play a role in this self-imposed contradiction, too. Many of our personal efforts can be thwarted—rather easily—by bureaucracy and/or social disparities.

In the United States and Canada, for example, even highly-skilled immigrants are consistently underemployed or unemployed due to logistical (e.g. language), social (e.g. ethnic discrimination), and bureaucratic (e.g. legal status) barriers. Even if someone fled their country for safety concerns or seeking greater opportunity, their upward mobility in a new one is handicapped from the start.

In a more day-to-day sense, every one of our actions is a glint in the kaleidoscope of the cosmos. Even our smiles carry energy; everything we say, do, and think influences our world. What many of us fail to see is that when “one straw” is multiplied by the 8.1 billion people on this planet, suddenly we have the plastic waste for 8.1 billion straws. 

Our efforts are far-reaching. We just tend not to see it that way because, well, social institutions and attitudes make us feel about as big and mighty as a gnat.

Response of a Quiet Renegade

So what is the quiet renegade’s response to all of this?

Do it anyway.

Choose to slow down and be intentional in a fast-paced world. Give no interest to the status quo. Pay into only the values that promote equanimity and growth. Compete less so that we can all achieve more.

Make deliberate choices as a consumer, reading labels and caring about where things came from and how they were produced. Opt out of excess and non-necessities. Advocate to have trees planted in the abandoned lot, not another concrete block.

Spread your wealth and good fortune to someone else. Pick constructive language over blaming, complaining, or disparagement. Seek understanding. Smile at a stranger. (Heck, smile at yourself.)

Refuse to be apathetic. Deny learned immobility and helplessness. 

Believe in your goodness, even when no one else wants to. Stand by what you know is right and true. 

These aren’t acts of futility. They’re efforts at alignment. And now, as ever, it’s so important to create harmony. There is hope for a unity among this earthly brotherhood, but only if we rise above cynicism and establish pillars of wisdom, joy, and love.  

The Quiet Renegade in Nature

We enjoy recognition and prosper when we’re given praise. To act outside of the norm, though, we sometimes have to get comfortable with unpopularity. Doing what’s right doesn’t always twin up with doing what’s fashionable or easy.

And this isn’t only about our unity as human beings, either. It’s about realigning with the universe itself. Our attitudes and actions have enough influence that they can literally change the climate. That’s why the path of the quiet renegade, while sometimes elusive in form, is actually so potent. 

We might benefit from following Nature’s example. Think about it:

• The sun demands nothing, yet it lights the whole sky. 
• Rivers flow freely, not sanctioning their waters between “worthy” and “unworthy.”
• The plants and animals act according to their nature, undeterred by self- or social judgment.
• Stars don’t war against the darkness; they simply shine.
• Gravity and electromagnetism operate thanklessly, keeping our planet in balance.
• The cosmos doesn’t withhold its beauty, even if we forget to look.

As Robin Wall Kimmerer wrote in Braiding Sweetgrass, “Even a wounded world is feeding us. Even a wounded world holds us, giving us moments of wonder and joy.” 

Basically, no matter how much our sense of superiority and entitlement has damaged the planet, She cares for us anyway.

Doing Good is Not About Us

Human beings are no less members of these systems than are the sun and rain. The one fallacy keeping us from that recognition is our marriage to the ego, or separateness, from all else.

We are not the isolated beings that human society has decided upon. When we start living and behaving as such, the whole world starts to feel more like its orchestral unity. We’ll start to hear the bells, chimes, brass, and strings.

And yes, this is true even if our efforts aren’t reciprocated by most of humankind. So often, we only make an effort when something is to be gained or accomplished. But we must rest assured knowing that Life takes heed. 

That’s what Mother Teresa’s poem means by “in the final analysis it is between you and God,” and it’s true even for persons not of faith. “God” is merely the term chosen to describe the unnamable Intelligence and Interconnection underlying all things. 

When we act with the light of pure intention, and saturate our interactions with sincerity and love, our efforts are charged with undeniable radiance. We may not see the effects immediately, but it’s karmic law that good and honest actions produce positive results.

Quiet Defiance, Radiant Effect

The human world is fraught with suffering, seduced by the pull of duality and constantly falling for the traps of darkness and conflict. Anything, or anyone, outside of the safety of the known are threatening. 

We even let ourselves believe that fellow men can be enemies. Our inherent brotherhood gets fractured by differences in skin color, borders, beliefs, and identity. We forget that separation is a trick of the mind—not the truth of the soul. 

If most of the world decides to act on duality, then choosing care is to refuse to participate in the conflict. It is instead a commitment to the “greater good.” To love. To light.  

When we do it anyway—when we love, nurture, give, and smile at every opportunity—we harken back to the ancient and eternal virtue of sanctity. 

Walking the path of the quiet renegade is not a weakness. It might be perceived as strange or fruitless, but in reality, it’s a gentle, loving nod to defiance.

And in times like these, dear life-travelers, that defiance is the light that will start to heal the whole world.

⋆.ೃ࿔ :･⚝⭑

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