Last night I was fortunate to see the play “My Name is Rachel Corrie” playing for the first time in New Zealand at the Forge, the no 2 theatre at the Court. It’s a 90 minute monologue describing her journey to the Gaza strip to volunteer as a peace activist (surely an oxymoron!!!!).

Go and see it if you can.

6 years ago she was murdered by the Israeli Defence Force, run over by a bulldozer attempting to destroy yet another ordinary civilian home. A mere speck in the devastation that is Palestine. But before everyone gets too excited, this post is not about Palestine but about the difference that individuals can make. That she continues to inspire people to act is in itself telling. That she gave her life for it is tragic but as she would probably understand, innocent lives are lost every day for little or no reason.

No Tiananmen Square mythology for her. The bulldozer did not stop for her. Perhaps because it wasn’t on film the Israeli driver didn’t feel any compunction to stop. One can only imagine what happens when no one is around. But this is the point. When we survey the world we can be overwhelmed by the incessant brutality and barbarism meted out daily by tyrants the world over. Yet still individuals can make a huge difference by directing us to the most minor of events which for us assume mythic proportions…perhaps biblical….David vs Goliath ring any bells.

Our sympathy is often with the individual, the person alone. It is the power of one that can move us, inspire us, energise us to say no. It’s why leaders such as Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King caused so many problems for their persecutors. One person can be harder to defeat than an army. It’s why Aung San Suu Kyi is always in our thoughts, always visible to the international community and always a thorn in the side of the tyrants.

So yes one person can make a difference. You can make a difference, no matter who you are or where you come from.

You can think about it or you can act, like Rachel did or you can write a letter.

It always counts no matter what the action.