“The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”

“Be the change you want to see in the world.” ~ Gandhi. 

How often have you had the thought of changing the world? If you are anything like me, I have it more often than I have a glass of warm milk with cookies (okay that’s wacky...anyway). Or maybe it is something more like,” how can one act make a difference?” but all to often for many people another thought creeps in, “Who am I? I am just a small drop in the ocean.” (see the picture on the left) Or, “It takes a really special, gifted, and powerful person to even think of changing the world. And “ I am neither special nor gifted, let alone powerful.”

If you think you are too small to make a difference, try going to sleep with the mosquito in the room" ~ Dalai Lama

Like me, you’ve probably have looked at legendary people who are making it and thought, “what is it that they have that I don’t or lack.” And the answer is – they have the conviction that they can make a difference; that they are an immense and integral part of bringing change to the world, and making a difference. One of such people is Steve Jobs.

Steve Jobs in interview for PBS' 'One Last Thing' documentary, 1994:

When you grow up you tend to get told the world is the way it is and your life is just to live your life inside the world. Try not to bash into the walls too much. Try to have a nice family life, have fun, save a little money.

That’s a very limited life. Life can be much broader once you discover one simple fact, and that is - everything around you that you call life, was made up by people that were no smarter than you. And you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use.

The minute that you understand that you can poke life and actually something will, you know if you push in, something will pop out the other side, that you can change it, you can mold it. That’s maybe the most important thing. It’s to shake off this erroneous notion that life is there and you’re just gonna live in it, versus embrace it, change it, improve it, make your mark upon it.

I think that’s very important and however you learn that, once you learn it, you’ll want to change life and make it better, ‘cause it’s kind of messed up, in a lot of ways. Once you learn that, you’ll never be the same again

“The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.” ~Steve Jobs

And recently I heard of a Pakistani teenager Malala Yousafzai, who was up for a Nobel peace prize and was just 15 years when a would-be assassin shot her in the head as she headed home from school in Pakistan.  On a radio interview when she was asked what she thought about the Taliban catching her she said, "My first thought was,  ‘Okay Malala pick up something to hit him and give him a good one.’ But then i thought, ‘if you hit him you won’t be different from him. There must be a difference between you and the Taliban.’ And so I thought, ‘I will say to him that i want to learn, I want education, i believe education is important and i want if for your children as well, and now do what you want." Many would think this unnecessary (like Barack Obama winning one, remember) and discredits the whole purpose of the prize because it is not something extravagant or, which i thought so too, but  then i thought "but what if  it shows that everyone can make a difference no matter the how “insignificant” it might appear?"

Everyday someone makes a life changing statement or action, that may not be honoured with a Nobel Prize but is no less Nobel than what Malala has proven to be possible. It is not so much about increased physical action taken to transform the world, but about how much compassion and also raising human consciousness awareness towards peace and kindness.

Don’t just recite Gandhi's quote to look learned and then shove it at the back of your mind. 

Embody it. Be the Essence of Change!