How to Change The World

How do you change the world? How do you become the name people name libraries and airports after. The name that people worldwide recognize as the one who changed it all, the one who saved us. Who picked up the pieces of a broken world and solved the puzzle. Well, like anything in life, you have to start small. People always think that changing the world starts with one big act of kindness, and that is not true. It starts with the small things, that mean to world to individuals and not communities and nations. Rather than change the world, focus on changing lives. On your way to school or work, put a smile on your face, say hello to everyone you see and rather than expecting a response, be pleasantly surprised when you get one. Help people, take a minute out of your day to help the mom with three kids trying to get all her groceries in her car and keep her kids from running into traffic. Instead of telling you what to do, let me tell a real life story. I will leave you today with this story, you can decide what it means and how it can affect your life. It was a weekend, and I was shopping for some food for my dog at the store and I saw this old lady shopping for cat food. I was not having a great day and did not even really want to go out of my house. I don't even remember why but I was just so pissed that day. But when I saw her, I saw a look on her face. She was lonely and took enjoyment out of the little things in life. So when she went to pickup a heavy bag of cat food, I walked over and picked it up for her, and introduced myself. Offered to help her get more things and spent some time talking to her. I spoke to her for two hours. We did not move. Her face went from lonely and dull to smiling and happy, while I stood, smiled, and listened, she told me all about her life, about her experiences and about the way the world worked. After the long lovely talk I walked her to her car and helped her put everything in it. She smiled and looked at me for what felt like minutes, and then she hugged me. She said that I made her so happy, just listening, and that I put a sun on her rainy day. She said that she had never met someone so kind and said that I was something really special. She said two things at the end I will never forget, the first was that having people listen to her stories gave her life meaning and were the only reason that she found a will and a way to keep living life in her old age. But more than that, as she got into her car she said something else, she said "Remember son, not everyone accomplishes great things in life, some people just do not have the time or energy, and some just are satisfied living a normal life. Do not be one of those, do what you just did, talk to people, learn and listen, and most importantly, have a great time on god's great Earth" I never saw her again, and I still go to that pet store, hoping maybe one day we will cross paths again. Up until now no one has every heard that story, no one will every thank me for talking to her, I will not become a hero because of it. Because I did not do it for fame, for glory, for recognition, I did it because the feeling I had when I walked away from her car was something I will never forget. It was the feeling of truly being a good person, and having changed someone else's life.

Facing Challenges in Life

Alright I am going to be straight with you, more brutally honest than anyone you will ever meet. Life is not easy, life is going to eat you up, spit you out and then make you put yourself back together. Life works against you, life does not want you to succeed. Life strives in your struggle. Every challenge you face, gives you two choices. You can back down, and let that challenge take advantage of you, and beat you down, and make you hide beneath the shadows where you will not even be able to recognize yourself. Or, instead of letting that challenge defeat you, you can defeat it. You can show it who is boss, you can use your secret weapon. Yourself. Because you are much more powerful than you think. I always tell people we do not succeed at things when the conditions are ideal. For what is there to succeed at when things are perfect? We succeed through our struggle, and we can only feel accomplished by actually overcoming something. Picture this, your distant uncle passes away, and having no close family of his own, you inherit his fortune. Turns out, your distant uncle was richer than you could even imagine. You inherit millions, and you are set for life. You never have to work, hell you never even have to speak to anyone again. You could literally lock the door to your mansion in the Hollywood Hills and order everything you needed to your doorstep and you would be fine. But at the end of the day as you lay in your pool drinking a glass of Dom, you stop for a second. What was his name? You never even learned his name, knew the color of his hair. saw a twinkle in his eye. Who was this man who made you rich, and what did you do deserve it. Do you feel accomplished? Did his money make you feel accomplished? I am not asking if the money made your life better, because it might do that. it might even make you happier, but did it make you feel accomplished at all? No. Because you did not struggle to earn that money. There was no blood, sweat or tears involved. Your hands never even got dirty, because instead you used them to enjoy the fruits of someone else's labor. So, instead of constantly buying lottery tickets, hoping one day the lucky number will be yours, go out make yourself something. Work hard at something you love, and money will come. Because something more important than money, is success. Because while both are often associated with one and other, they are not the same thing. Success is the greatest feeling in the world, and it is one accomplished through struggle, your struggle, and your ability to rise above a challenge, and defeat it.

Walking Versus Talking

Are you a 'walker' or a 'talker'? Do you just talk of change, and constantly complain of the problems our world faces whilst all the while knowing that you will surely do nothing about it. Instead you wait out your lonely days at home, sitting around waiting, waiting for someone else to stand up and do something about it. Someone who actually cares. Someone who wakes up at the crack of dawn, takes a shower, gets dressed, brushes off the pain, and goes. Who goes out on the street on protests, who talks to people, and who genuinely wants to get the ball rolling in the right direction. Because while you complain about the direction the world is headed, while you question what our next generation will have to suffer through, you do nothing. Instead you live out your life caring about no one except yourself. Your greedy, self-centered, and unoptimistic self. So what is a 'walker' and what is 'talker'. A talker, is a person who only talks of change, and relies upon the motivation of others to get up and do something issues facing the world. A walker however, is someone that knows there is no one better than themselves to affect change in the world. Before I go, imagine this. You go into your local coffee shop, and order your long complicated drink, and of course, the barista messes it up. So let me ask you this. Do you think that when the barista makes his/her own coffee that they screw it up? No! They know exactly what they want, and even if they have to experiment a bit, maybe even retry a couple times. they will get exactly what they want. So why do you need someone else to make your coffee for you? Why not instead just make your own coffee? I mean, you know what you want don't you? So just make it happen, figure out the steps later. Because we don't accomplish anything by waiting for an invitation, we accomplish things by just taking the first step, the hardest step. The steps that follow will appear along the way, trust me, but for now, just take the first step. So, what is your first step?