they say...
People who hear this phrase and cringe are movers and shakers. Noticing what's wrong with life is the first step to doing something about it. The people who do something about it are Nelson Mandela's and Rosa Park's.
It might take a village to raise a child, but it almost certainly takes a child to reform that village for all human flourishing. One voice out of many.
E Pluribus Unum got us to the top, but what will bring us down is the failure to listen to the child saying the emperor has no clothes.
(They won't say it because it's popular; they'll say it because it's true.)
***Side note on atomic change: In truly simple ways, many people live out Defiance to the status quo in their lives without showiness or wanting a trophy. It doesn't take movements with unions and speakers to go against the grain for change. It requires only that one person start using a reusable straw. And then another...***
read:
The Emperor's New Clothes // Hans Christian Andersen
Atomic Habits // James Clear