Edward Everett Hale said:
I am only one,
but still I am one.
I cannot do everything,
but still I can do something;
and because I cannot do everything,
I will not refuse to do something I can do

Here are stories of some people who carry this mantra forth!
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Sarla K. sold her spacious flat in a prime South Mumbai locality. She insisted she would take payment by cheque only, even though she could have got over 50 lakhs if she had accepted a cash payment. She was able to say “No” to this as she had over the years started with saying “No” to giving bribes for rail tickets etc. She says, "Try honesty. It’s possible to live honestly provided we have the patience. I am not saying it’s easy but one has to try."
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Neha M. of Jamshedpur refused to take the chits of answers given to each student to ‘maintain the record pass rate’ of her school in spite of insistence by the principal that she accept them.
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Amarnath Y. travelled from Mumbai to his village near Varanasi in a newly purchased second-hand vehicle with all the necessary papers. At each state border point he was able to go through without paying the bribe demanded by patiently insisting that principles he had adopted to help answer corruption in UP and India, would not allow his conscience to pay.
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James M. of Manipur, after listening to his inner voice and measuring his life against standards of unconditional purity, honesty, unselfishness and love, wrote and apologized to his father for hating him. He accepted that his father may not have been a good father, but that he too had not been a good son. Hearing James, Hasan K. of Hyderabad wrote immediately to his father, as his story was similar. Hasan's father said, “I have got back my son after 20 years!”
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Hindudeva, a Mumbai suburb cut off by floodwaters for 3 days, was desperate and neglected by community leaders and politicians. 10 Muslim youth from Muslim dominated Mumbra lugged sacks of food across to feed their Hindu neighbours. They even cooked for them and provided drinking water.
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Pilu, a Jharkhand villager who brewed country liquor, one day realised - “I am in fact supplying poison to my fellow-villagers.” He announced at a village meeting that he had stopped making liquor. A smallscale industrialist present offered him a job so he could have an alternative to provide for his family.
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And more recently...

J.S. Parthiban, Senior Manager at the Elachipalayam branch of a nationalized bank, helped set up several Self-Help Groups (SHGs) for poor villagers. The loan schemes he organized through his bank have helped to free borrowers from the debt-spirals they were caught in because of the exorbitant interest rates charged by private money lenders.

One day Parthiban was on his way to visit village groups. He got lost and ended up in a village where poverty seemed eternal. He stopped and started a conversation with some women who were around. They told him of their tough lives. They had to cut trees for firewood and brew illicit alcohol for livelihood. Their husbands were alcoholics and made life a ‘living hell’ for the women and children.

After listening to their stories, he wanted to empower these women, and thereby help save the remaining forest. He gave them loans and advised them to buy buffalos. The women now sell milk and earn enough money to repay the loan as well as to meet their needs. The buffalo dung is converted into biogas. And there is no more illicit alcohol brewing in the village, as women now have this alternative income. Today, Parthiban’s branch is helping 188 SHGs!

On Independence day these women linked up with thousands of students and teachers in a Yatra initiated by Parthiban, under the theme "India, I Care!" The group marched through Salem, garlanding statues of several freedom fighters, to acknowledge their selfless service to the nation. The enthusiastic children also pledged to help change India for the better by changing themselves & caring for fellow Indians.
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