Give Up Your Seat, Change the World Pt.1

Since moving to NYC, I have done my best to give my seat up to any women who are standing when there are no other seats available. That’s right – makin’ momma proud.

A few weeks ago I was on the subway to meet up with some friends.

So after sitting down, the seats filled up around me and a young lady strolled in looking for a seat. I got up, offered my seat and moved down the train car where I happened to find another seat. Total win-win.

However, only a few short minutes later, another young lady (who had seen me previously move seats) showed up looking for a seat. I got up again and she took my seat, sitting down next to another lady.

At the next subway stop, something awesome happened.

As the seats started to fill up, a father and his little boy, probably around the age of 5, came walking in and began looking around for a seat.

Almost immediately, the girl I had given my seat to and the girl next to her jumped up and happily gave up their seats to the father and his boy…

Then it hit me… Surely either my act of giving my seat up or the girl after me had influenced others around the train car to do the same.

Think about that for a second.

The positive action of one person influenced the positive action of another, and then several others following that.

The positive impact from the first individual’s actions were multiplied several times, and likely would continue to multiply for the duration of that subway ride; hopefully beyond that.

Now look, I’m not trying to be a drama queen or talk about how noble I am or any BS like that. I simply gave up my seat and maybe someone who saw me do so was more inclined to do the same because of that.

Sure, we only gave up our seats to others, we didn’t save the world. But we could have just as easily been helping someone in need, maybe giving money or food to the homeless, etc.

Too often we underestimate the influence we can have. We think it’s a myth that we can actually drive change or make a tangible impact. We’re too young, too inexperienced, too naive, too unrealistic…

Well that’s bullshit…

Every change, every movement, every revolution starts with a single action, no matter how small. What change will you create?

Sound off below!