{"id":1473,"date":"2026-10-24T08:34:16","date_gmt":"2026-10-24T08:34:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/davethomasonline.com\/blog\/?p=1473"},"modified":"2026-10-19T09:35:16","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T09:35:16","slug":"making-a-difference-without-making-a-song-and-dance-about-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/davethomasonline.com\/blog\/making-a-difference-without-making-a-song-and-dance-about-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Making a Difference, Without Making a Song and Dance About It"},"content":{"rendered":"

The trouble with being helpful<\/strong><\/p>\n

I’ve noticed that making a difference has become rather complicated.<\/p>\n

Apparently, it’s no longer enough to do something kind. Ideally, you should photograph it, post it online, add an inspirational caption and make sure the lighting is flattering.<\/p>\n

I’m not entirely sure when holding a door open became a potential content strategy, but here we are.<\/p>\n

I suppose it’s progress of a sort. Somewhere, somebody is probably building a personal brand around returning a shopping trolley.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, I still consider it a successful morning if I’ve remembered where I parked the car.<\/p>\n

The little things we used to take for granted<\/strong><\/p>\n

When I was younger, people seemed to do small favours without making a fuss about them.<\/p>\n

Someone would carry a neighbour’s shopping. A stranger would help you pick up something you’d dropped. If you were struggling with a heavy door, somebody might hold it open without expecting a testimonial.<\/p>\n

There was no announcement. No carefully worded post about the importance of community. No photograph of two people smiling at the camera while a third person explained the emotional significance of a carrier bag.<\/p>\n

You simply helped because someone needed help.<\/p>\n

Of course, I’m probably remembering the past through slightly rose-tinted spectacles. People have always been selfish, generous, thoughtless and kind, often before breakfast. And there have always been people who made a great deal of noise about doing very little.<\/p>\n

Still, I do wonder whether we’ve become so accustomed to seeing grand gestures displayed everywhere that we sometimes overlook the smaller ones happening right in front of us.<\/p>\n

And then I caught myself<\/strong><\/p>\n

The other day, I saw someone helping another person with a problem that clearly wasn’t their responsibility.<\/p>\n

My immediate reaction was admiration.<\/p>\n

My second reaction was to wonder whether I would have done the same.<\/p>\n

My third was to realise that I was standing there thinking about kindness rather than actually doing anything kind.<\/p>\n

Typical.<\/p>\n

It’s remarkably easy to develop strong opinions about how people ought to behave while remaining comfortably uninvolved ourselves.<\/p>\n

I could probably write a whole essay on the subject, preferably from a chair with a cup of coffee within easy reach.<\/p>\n

But that would rather prove the point.<\/p>\n

No medals required<\/strong><\/p>\n

Perhaps making a difference doesn’t need to be as grand as we imagine.<\/p>\n

It might mean checking on a neighbour, listening properly when somebody needs to talk, helping someone carry a heavy bag or simply being patient with a person who’s having a difficult day.<\/p>\n

None of these things will necessarily attract applause. They might not even be noticed.<\/p>\n

And perhaps that’s part of their value.<\/p>\n

You do something helpful because it makes another person’s day a little easier, not because you’re expecting recognition for it.<\/p>\n

I realise this is an astonishingly old-fashioned idea. I shall try not to let it interfere with modern life.<\/p>\n

So, on Make a Difference Day, I might make a small effort to be a little more helpful and a little less grumpy.<\/p>\n

I won’t promise to become a saint. Let’s not get carried away.<\/p>\n

But if I can make somebody’s day slightly better without announcing it to the internet, I shall consider that a decent result.<\/p>\n

And if somebody holds a door open for me, I’ll remember to say thank you.<\/p>\n

Unless I’m distracted by my coffee, of course.<\/p>\n

Anyway, what do I know? I\u2019m just a grumpy old man.<\/p>\n

What’s the smallest act of kindness someone has done for you that you still remember?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The trouble with being helpful I’ve noticed that making a difference has become rather complicated. Apparently, it’s no longer enough to do something kind. Ideally, you should photograph it, post…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1475,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[532,363,361,56],"tags":[526,529,528,364,79,531,109,530,527],"class_list":["post-1473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-makeadifferenceday","category-every-day-observations","category-gom-diary","category-hashtag-holidays","tag-makeadifferenceday","tag-community-spirit","tag-everyday-kindness","tag-gom-diary","tag-grumpy-old-man","tag-helping-others","tag-modern-life","tag-observational-humour","tag-small-acts-of-kindness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/davethomasonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/davethomasonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/davethomasonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davethomasonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davethomasonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1473"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/davethomasonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1473\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1474,"href":"https:\/\/davethomasonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1473\/revisions\/1474"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davethomasonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/davethomasonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davethomasonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davethomasonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}