It’s easy to spend hours each week reading about national politics, big court cases, or the latest viral controversy. These stories are important—but for most of us, they are too big. We have almost no direct influence over them. We can get angry, anxious, or exhausted, but that rarely leads to any action that changes the situation.
Meanwhile, in our own towns and neighborhoods, there are things we can influence—things that often go unattended. We could be meeting our neighbors, working on local challenges, and strengthening the civic muscles that make a democracy work. But too often, those opportunities get crowded out by the drama on our screens.
We often think too big and, so, feel powerless.
We tend to underestimate the power of local action. We tell ourselves that working on a park cleanup, a community meal, or a local listening session is just “small stuff.” But history shows that local action, multiplied across thousands of communities, reshapes nations. When we build belonging and trust in our neighborhoods, we create the soil where democracy can grow strong roots.
The truth is, local action is national action—when it’s done in connection with others across the state and the country.
In other words, what we consider small, can have really big impacts.
At Paths to Understanding (PTU), we’re working with a network of national, statewide, and local partners to strengthen democracy in towns and cities across Washington. Each organization brings skills, relationships, and tools. PTU is just one piece of a much larger puzzle. Our shared goal is simple but ambitious: create communities where everyone can belong, contribute, and thrive.
PTU’s part will be to lead a statewide effort to help people come together across all kinds of differences, leveraging the wisdom of interfaith work to help people see that we can be different and still work together.
There’s one more way to think about regarding “Too Big” and “Too Small.”
Many nonprofits, faith communities, and civic groups stay focused only on their own mission. But part of that mission—whether we name it or not—should be to connect our people with other organizations. When we link arms, we help local citizens build the relationships and collective power to shape the communities they long for.
We’re all a part of something bigger than ourselves. And that “something bigger” starts small—right where we live.