This past Thursday was World Bee Day, honoring the birthday of the world’s first beekeeper.  Its purpose is to acknowledge bees and other pollinators in the ecosystem.  It’s a good reminder for us to be more like bees.

Each bee only makes a small amount of honey in its lifetime. However, its efforts are realized in future generations, after they are gone.  They give us a roadmap for creating change by teaching us not to worry about the size of our contributions and letting our actions join those of others.

Marianne Gee has learned this as she discovered her passion for bees after a swarm invaded her house.  As a result, she and her husband became beekeepers and urban farmers.  In addition, they are very active in advocating for the plight of bees. But, as she explains in her excellent TED Talk, she became frustrated with how big the problem was and how tiny her efforts were.  So she found a solution by studying the bees.  I encourage you to watch the entire video.

Too many of us use our apparent insignificance as an excuse for not taking a stand.  Worse yet, many of us haven’t even taken the time to discover what beliefs we have worthy of our passion.  Instead, they go with the flow and follow the crowd.  Being popular becomes more important than any cause.  Personality is more important than reason.  To me, this is far too common.  As Alexander Hamilton chose Jefferson over Burr, I will always respect those who have beliefs over those who have none.  Whether or not they share my opinions.  As a writer, I fight on the side of reason.

Accordingly, I always support sports figures who use their celebrity to stand up for their beliefs.  Like the bees, small acts can have a significant impact. For example, tennis star Naomi Osaka took time during last year’s shutdown to reflect on important issues and how she could make a difference.  Being shy and uncomfortable as a speaker, she wore face masks at the U.S. Open tournament to promote the Black Lives Matter movement to an international audience.  By encouraging others to speak out for equality, she has further raised her profile.

LeBron James uses his profile to bring attention to social justice and police brutality.  Last year during the NBA Finals, he told the Los Angeles Times, “I know I’ll do my part, as much as I can do on continuing to create change, continue to educate, continue to enlighten my community and communities all over the world that listen to me and follow me throughout my journey.  Like I said, you can control what you can control.  What you can’t, sometimes as much as it hurts, you just try not to worry about it.”

That sounds like how the bees approach their mission.  Fighting for civil rights is a great effort, and it will take the actions of many working together to achieve the ultimate goal of equality.  Starting with Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier in baseball, sports figures have played a significant role.  But that was 74 years ago.

Muhammed Ali was the sports figure who had the most significant impact on my understanding of racial injustice.  I grew up in the 70s and 80s, and his fights were huge events.  He used his celebrity to fight for equal rights and against the war in Vietnam like no one else.  I remember seeing his movie, The Greatest, and wondering why I wasn’t learning about his struggle in school.  Ali sacrificed the prime of his career to support his cause. 

The movie One Night in Miami shows a great example of working together like bees to impact change. First, Ali, Jim Brown, Sam Cooke, and Malcolm X meet together in a motel room the night Ali defeated Sonny Liston to discuss their roles in the civil rights movement.  Later, each of them was encouraged in their pursuit. But, unfortunately, both Malcolm X and Cooke died within a year after the meeting.  Nevertheless, the two sports figures carried on and encouraged many other athletes to find their voice.

That was 57 years ago.  James, Osaka, and others like Colin Kaepernick are the bees carrying out the queen’s mission today. But, just like back then, they face tremendous opposition.  They are promoting change, and many people fear its impact.  On a much smaller scale, I saw this in my career as a project manager working on change initiatives.  Fear is a strong emotion and, even though the solutions we were implementing had tremendous benefits, many fail to understand the reason behind the change.  You have to communicate it over and over again.  Then, one day you shove them over the finish line. 

Before he died, Cooke released the song A Change is Gonna Come as a single.  It wasn’t popular initially but became an anthem for the civil rights movement.  It’s a remarkable song that is as relevant today as it was in 1963.  Hopefully, we have moved closer to the finish line.

I encourage everyone to seek out and find a mission vital to them and find like-minded others, just like the bees and the beekeepers.  For me, seeing Hamilton inspired me to write like I was running out of time about things I believe need to be changed.  Most of my causes, such as adopting a universal designated hitter in baseball, are far less noble than the civil rights movement but are meaningful to me nonetheless.  If we can convince people to face their fears and do the right thing on minor issues, more significant progress will follow.

We all need to make our one-twelfth of a teaspoon of honey.

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