A Single Grain of Rice

I've been going through a strange Disney phase since joining college. My freshmen year I watched more children movies than I could even count and the same is beginning to be true for this year. Maybe it's because of my lack of a normal Disney/princess fetish when I was younger (probably due to growing up with two older brothers) or maybe it's because my roommate LOVES Disney with her whole heart or some combination of the two, but I've taken a liking to these movies. Watching them now that I'm older is definitely enlightening. I catch the sarcasm and innuendos that I never knew these movies had but I also see the truth presented in these movies.
Last week I went to Balcony for a Mulan/knitting party. Mulan is one of my all time favs so I was pumped to get to see it again. One of the lines that I could not ignore this time around was by Mulan's father: "A single grain of rice can tip the scale, so one man may be the difference between victory and defeat." Wow. How had I never seen how profound that is?
Of course this made me think of Invisible Children, because let's be honest, what doesn't make me think of it these days. Invisible Children is an organization that understands the power of people and does not underestimate the voice of the individual.
I've been really frustrated as of late at the "American" in my peers and society. Well, we live in America, we are Americans, duh. So what do I even mean? I mean this sex craving, consumeristic and selfish culture that holds the mentality that anything that does not directly affect us is not our problem. We want to be a part of something bigger than ourselves, and if we're honest we can say that even the need to be a part of something is tainted with the desire to feel better about ourselves. It's sick and twisted and I'm so annoyed by living in a culture that does not think that we have the responsibility or ability to create change.
Friday I was talking to a friend about one of our IC fundraisers and he didn't how our raising money is helping anything. My roommate and I explained that what we raise here goes to rebuild schools and provide an education for what will be the future leaders of Uganda. He started saying how throwing money at the problem won't fix the problem and that if Kony is arrested it will just cause more uproar and that he can't do anything practical that will actually help. Of course by this point the whole conversation turned into an argument and there was weeping and gnashing of teeth. Not really. But I did get pretty heated. I am much too stubborn to be told that what I am doing isn't productive and doesn't hold any value. I know that it is and that it does. I guess showing people that is a lot harder and more frustrating than I thought it would be, especially when they're my friends.
This makes me think if I would even be a good Roadie. I know that I believe in the work being done at this organization and that I love talking about it, but I also know that they get a lot of rejection and I can just imagine how exhausting that must be to always deal with not only the skeptics, but those who straight up don't care and think this is a waste of time and energy.
I firmly believe that one person can make a difference on a small scale, but also on a huge scale. And I love that I can see that in ways that maybe aren't so conventional, like Mulan. I guess my desire then is to be that grain of rice that does tip the scale, but in a direction that is good and right and just.