“It would be very beautiful if everyone did not waste a single moment before beginning to improve the world.” - Anne Frank
There are a couple of things I want to say about this quote. First, we know that the girl who wrote these words did her part in improving the world - she gave a voice, a supremely relatable voice, to the suffering of millions. We saw in her words ourselves, our sisters, our daughters - we recognized our shared humanity and we were forced to reconcile that humanity with what happened to Anne.
She did good. She improved the world. And she did it as a teenager - there is no age requirement for improving the world.
She did it in confinement with a limited number of people with whom to interact - there is no circumstance required to improve the world.
She never knew the impact she had - there is no requirement that you should know the result of the good you add to the world. You may never see the positive chain of events that unfolds from doing the good things you were created to do.
That thing that pops into the back of your mind - a thing you feel the urge to do? A silly poem to write down and share with a neighbor, a cupcake made and decorated especially for your friend, a message you want to send to someone you haven’t seen in ages - do these things. Do the small things and the big things and the in-between things. You don’t have to wait another moment to begin improving the world.