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The genocide in Darfur. The Crandall Canyon mine disaster. Read the news for three minutes, and it’s hard not to become overwhelmed by the human suffering. Especially when you realize that so many millions of lives are so intimately and infinitely effected by the things that so many of us know only superficially—AIDS and malaria, hunger and water crises, genocide and war…this nightmarish list could go on and on. So many things are so heartbreakingly wrong for so many people.

With all of this happening, where do you devote your time and attention? Do you support efforts to aid the civilians in war-torn Iraq or efforts to support the war-wounded U.S. soldiers and their families? AIDS efforts in Africa or AIDS efforts in the States? Cancer research or cancer patients? Seriously, I could donate my entire net worth to a charity, and it wouldn’t even make a ripple in the overall scheme of things. (Granted, as a twenty-something recent college graduate, my donation wouldn’t be that much.)

But the principle here…what good is one tiny bucket in the face of a hurricane?

Well, it depends on your perspective. One bucket certainly couldn’t have bailed out all of New Orleans. The problem was so big, the idea would be laughable if it wasn’t so serious. However, one bucket could have been used to bring food or fresh water to one of the stranded families. Used repeatedly, it could have been a boon to any number of individuals. Add another bucket and you’ve doubled your capabilities.

And that’s the key, isn’t it? Looking at the world’s problems on a worldwide level, it’s easy to become paralyzed into inaction by the sheer enormity of the suffering. On a worldwide level, it’s difficult to know where to begin and far too easy to talk about problems without actually doing anything about them. However, by getting involved at the individual level—filling that proverbial bucket—and contributing through your actions, you become a committed participant, responding to the world’s tragedies with the clarion cry, “I can’t do everything, but I can do this.”

Tackling the problems on an individual level doesn’t have to require huge individual sacrifices. By making small-level lifestyle changes, you can make a big difference for individuals within the community. Perhaps you choose to help fight hunger by purchasing an extra can of food for the food bank—every time you go grocery shopping. Or maybe you add a race for a cancer patient to your everyday workout routine. Imagine if businesses backed this initiative year-round, with movie theaters offering permanent discounts on tickets with a food donation, realtors offering permanent rate discounts with proof that you volunteered for Habitat for Humanity, and offices permanently giving employees a monthly afternoon off to contribute to a favorite charity.

Perhaps these ideas rub against the grain for some people because, by offering an incentive, they seem to take the selfless aspect out of service. These suggestions aren’t meant to replace the causes that people currently support, nor are they meant to downplay, in any manner, the generosity currently shown by so many members of the community. Rather, they are meant to magnify this generosity by encouraging people to incorporate service into activities they already do. If anything, these suggestions add a thread of generosity to our generally self-centered lives.

Action is always better than inaction. Every tiny light plays a part in dispelling darkness. Happy Labor Day.