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3 times courageous groups of people changed America for the better.

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Aspen Institute

We've all heard the inspiring Margaret Mead quote, "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."

For many Americans, it sometimes feels like the closest we come to change-making is the one vote we cast at the polls every four years — an unfulfilling process that can leave us more frustrated with the system than hopeful that the changes we desire will ever come. It's tempting to trade in optimism for apathy.

But no person is powerless to create change. History has shown us time and time again that even the smallest groups can make their voices heard and inspire a positive change in not only their immediate communities, but across the country.


Here are three examples you may not know about of individuals and small groups taking a stand and creating big change.

1. The Delano Grape Strike boosts migrant farmworkers.

Image by Joel Levine/Wikimedia Commons.

The life of a farmer has never been an easy one, but it has improved significantly in the past 40 years thanks to the efforts of Dolores Huerta, Cesar Chavez, a community of like-minded people, and ... grapes.

Huerta and Chavez, frustrated with the low wages, lack of health care, and poor conditions their fellow farmers were forced to work in, formed the National Farm Workers Association in 1962. They went door-to-door to unite local farmers — who were discriminated against and sometimes even pitted against one another whenever they demanded better wages — to create a community of workers seeking the basic rights they deserved.

Through a series of organized boycotts starting on Sept. 8, 1965, and lasting more than five years, the Delano Grape Strike aimed to bring national attention to the injustices facing migrant workers.


Image via iStock.

And it did just that. More than 14 million Americans joined the boycott aimed at two of the largest corporations involved in the grape industry in Delano, California: Schenley Industries and the DiGiorgio Corporation.

The corporations were eventually pressured to renegotiate their farmers' contracts, raising their wages, giving them access to health care, and bringing an end to "labor contracting," a system wherein jobs could be assigned by favoritism and bribery.

Huerta and Chavez knew that relentless persistence was one of their greatest allies in the fight for farmers' rights, and that the best way to go about obtaining those rights would be to hit their oppressors where it hurt them the most: their wallets.

If there was ever an accomplishment that called for a celebratory glass of wine, it was this one.

2. Ralph Nader helps start a revolution of the American auto industry.

The 1960s was one of the most innovative and just plain awesome decades that the American auto industry has ever seen. The Big Three (aka GM, Ford, and Chrysler), the Mustang, the GTO, "American muscle" — life was like a tattoo of a bald eagle wrapped in barbed wire back then.

Image via iStock.

Of course, there was a downside to all this coolness: safety. With little regulation to guide them and even fewer laws to govern them, many automobile manufacturers opted to cut corners in their production process in order to meet growing demand as quickly (and as cheaply) as possible.

That was until safety-conscious rebel Ralph Nader published "Unsafe at Any Speed" in 1965, a revolutionary book that called out the Big Three (among other automakers) for the dangers their negligence was placing upon the public.

Ralph Nader aka "The Nadester." Image by Sage Ross/Flickr.

The book became an instant bestseller, and The Big Three's subsequent efforts to blackmail and drag Nader's name through the mud only further spurred the public to action.

When faced with Nader's cold, hard data and increasing demand for accountability, Congress soon passed the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act in 1966, which not only established the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, but also implemented several safety regulations — chiefly, seat belts, front head restraints, and stronger windshields — that have saved over 250,000 lives in the past 40 years alone.

One man taking on a booming industry in a time when it could do no wrong, and winning. Sometimes the pen truly is mightier than the sword.

Speaking of automobile safety...

3. MADD changes how we think about drinking and driving.

Founded in 1980 by Candace Lightner, the mother of a 13-year-old girl who was tragically killed by a drunk driver, MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) has been instrumental in implementing many of the modern laws and safety features on vehicles related to drunk driving over the years.

The organization was a crucial part of Congress' decision to lower the national legal blood-alcohol content limit of a driver from 0.10 to 0.08 in 2000, campaigned for breath alcohol ignition interlock devices to be installed in the vehicles of drunk driving offenders, and helped develop a dedicated National Traffic Safety Fund.


Alcohol ignition interlock system. Say that five times fast. Image via iStock.

The punishments for drunk drivers weren't all that severe — or even defined before MADD came to be — and the results the organization has engendered in the time since have been nothing short of astounding.

Thanks in large part to the awareness MADD brought to the issue of drunk driving, alcohol-related vehicle fatalities have decreased 52% since 1982.

In states where ignition interlock devices have become mandatory for all drunk driving offenders, fatalities have been reduced by over 30%.

Even advocates for decriminalizing drunk driving like Radley Balko cannot deny the effect MADD has had on society.

"In fairness, MADD deserves credit for raising awareness of the dangers of driving while intoxicated," Balko wrote in a 2010 article. "It was almost certainly MADD's dogged efforts to spark public debate that affected the drop in fatalities."

Those "dogged efforts" were part of Lightner's quest to turn a personal tragedy into a means of educating the world about the dangers of drunk driving. The massive public awareness campaign included press conferences and candlelight vigils, protesting at state capitols, tying red ribbons onto cars, and popularizing the term "designated driver," to name a few.

MADD was able to create an immense change by simply shining a light on an issue that many people didn't realize was an issue in the first place. And now, there is at least one MADD office in every U.S. state, as well as each province in Canada.

I guess you could say that if you really want to get things done ... (*removes sunglasses*) ... you gotta get mad.

It's easy to feel powerless when looking over the average day's headlines. But change is possible.

It's disheartening to see our government locked in seemingly endless squabbles that garner little to no results. We see the same haunting reminders of centuries-old hatred and bigotry being revived on our streets. For every step we take toward a brighter world, it sometimes seems as if we take two steps back.

But as Winston Churchill once famously declared, "To improve is to change, so to be perfect is to have changed often."

Change is something we're all capable of, no matter how insurmountable the odds, and one step toward it is recognizing how it has been achieved before.

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Making new friends as an adult is challenging. While people crave meaningful IRL connections, it can be hard to know where to find them. But thanks to one Facebook Group, meeting your new best friends is easier than ever.

Founded in 2018, NYC Brunch Squad brings together hundreds of people who come as strangers and leave as friends through its in-person events.

“Witnessing the transformative impact our community has on the lives of our members is truly remarkable. We provide the essential support and connections needed to thrive amid the city's chaos,” shares Liza Rubin, the group’s founder.

Despite its name, the group doesn’t just do brunch. They also have book clubs, seasonal parties, and picnics, among other activities.

NYC Brunch Squad curates up to 10 monthly events tailored to the specific interests of its members. Liza handles all the details, taking into account different budgets and event sizes – all people have to do is show up.

“We have members who met at our events and became friends and went on to embark on international journeys to celebrate birthdays together. We have had members get married with bridesmaids by their sides who were women they first connected with at our events. We’ve had members decide to live together and become roommates,” Liza says.

Members also bond over their passion for giving back to their community. The group has hosted many impact-driven events, including a “Picnic with Purpose” to create self-care packages for homeless shelters and recently participated in the #SquadSpreadsJoy challenge. Each day, the 100 members participating receive random acts of kindness to complete. They can also share their stories on the group page to earn extra points. The member with the most points at the end wins a free seat at the group's Friendsgiving event.

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Your purchasing power can swing by 30% from state to state.

Image by Tax Foundation.

Map represents the value of 100 dollars.

As the cost of living in large cities continues to rise, more and more people are realizing that the value of a dollar in the United States is a very relative concept. For decades, cost of living indices have sought to address and benchmark the inconsistencies in what money will buy, but they are often so specific as to prevent a holistic picture or the ability to "browse" the data based on geographic location.

The Tax Foundation addressed many of these shortcomings using the most recent (2015) Bureau of Economic Analysis data to provide a familiar map of the United States overlaid with the relative value of what $100 is "worth" in each state. Granted, going state-by-state still introduces a fair amount of "smoothing" into the process — $100 will go farther in Los Angeles than in Fresno, for instance — but it does provide insight into where the value lies.

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Woman bakes cheeky curse word pies for her grandma and it becomes a quirky holiday tradition

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Canva

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Tried-and-true holiday traditions certainly have their merit, but there’s something quite special, magical even, about discovering personal rituals that commemorate one’s unique life. In my household, for instance, nothing quite rings in the Christmas spirit like sipping my partner’s delicious coquito and putting up a cardboard gingerbread house for my cats.

The beauty of creating customized holiday traditions is that they can be as festive, sentimental, or as silly as you want them to be. And you never know how one small moment can become the catalyst for a tradition that sparks joy year after year.

For Jess Lydon, that tradition is baking expletive-laden pies for Thanksgiving. (This is your profanity warning—the images below contain swear words.)

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3,700-year-old Babylonian stone tablet gets translated, changes history

They were doing trigonometry 1500 years before the Greeks.

via UNSW

Dr. Daniel Mansfield and his team at the University of New South Wales in Australia have just made an incredible discovery. While studying a 3,700-year-old tablet from the ancient civilization of Babylon, they found evidence that the Babylonians were doing something astounding: trigonometry!

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Family posts a very chill note to neighbors explaining why their dog is on the roof

“We appreciate your concern but please do not knock on our door.."

via Reddit

Meet Huckleberry the dog.

If you were taking a stroll through a quiet neighborhood and happened to catch a glance of this majestic sight, you might bat an eye. You might do a double take. If you were (somewhat understandably) concerned about this surprising roof-dog's welfare, you might even approach the homeowners to tell them, "Uh, I'm not sure if you know...but there's a...dog...on your ROOF."

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Family

12 hilariously relatable comics about life as a new mom.

Embarrassing stains on your T-shirt, sniffing someone's bum to check if they have pooped, the first time having sex post-giving birth — as a new mom, your life turns upside-down.

All illustrations by Ingebritt ter Veld. Reprinted here with permission.

Some good not so good moments with babies.



Embarrassing stains on your T-shirt, sniffing someone's bum to check if they have pooped, the first time having sex post-giving birth — as a new mom, your life turns upside-down.

Illustrator Ingebritt ter Veld and Corinne de Vries, who works for Hippe-Birth Cards, a webshop for birth announcements, had babies shortly after one another.

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