The United Nations meets for thousands of hours every year, with governments working hard to try to bring peace to every corner of the universe. Through all this, the US is still in two wars, while the entire world sits in a state of unease, with peace seeming much less like a five year plan, and much more like a century long turmoil.
Yet peace is beginning. It is not beginning in board rooms, the office of legal negotiators, or even in the United Nations. It is beginning with one silly dance by one man.
Dancing Matt has received 26,511,126 hits on his youtube video, and has been sweeping the nation, featured in such books as Socialnomics, by Erik Qualman.
Who is Dancing Matt? What does he do? Matt is a man who was known by his friends for a quirky, fun dance that he does when he is happy. A few years ago, someone thought it would be a good idea to videotape this dance. It became an instant Youtube hit, and Stride Gum would enter into a sponsorship with Matt and his dance. With Stride picking up the tab, Matt began going around the world, doing his dance in all sorts of destinations, from New York to Fiji, Chicago to Zambia.
What happened when Matt did his dance around the world? More and more people began dancing with him, spreading the joy. With thousands of people doing this dance from countries all over the world, Matt was making a global impact.
Sometimes its important to take a step back and say "How much are we actually getting done?" Matt was not attempting to change the world. He was simply doing his dance to entertain a few people. Yet that dance has changed the world in a way that nobody could have imagine.
So you don't have to be a national diplomat to make a difference. Just dance.
Have you seen me dance... might start another war! Good blog post, though!
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