We All Change the World

 

 Somebody just asked me, “What is your belief? Please tell me, at least one word.”  This request came through an sms by a consulting client. 

 

I replied, “I believe I was born to be a great man who will take the world to a new level of consciousness.” 

 

When I was sixteen when someone asked me what I wanted to do in life, a spontaneous reply came to me, “I want to change to world.”  I did not say it as a frustration or a burst of anger but a deep sense of mission.  It took be 20 years to know exactly what type of change I was talking about.  Still it will take me another 10 years to be sure and skilled in bringing this change on call. 

 

I’ve allowed myself to be guided by forces not of national culture or even family culture but an inner gyroscope. 

 

“What is the relevance of my experience to you?”  You may ask, and rightyly should at this point of this article.  Well here is my view:

1. Before Buddha, enlightenment was not such a fashion
2. Before Mother Theresa, taking care of lepers and the untouchables was not respectable
3. Before Henry Ford, driving cars wasn’t a basic need
4. Before Montesory, teaching kids wasn’t a creative experience
5. Before Martin Luther King, racism wasn’t wrong
6. Before Abraham Lincoln having slaves wasn’t unethical
7. Before Nelson Mendela, nobody really thought that a single man could change a nation’s constitution so unrecognizably
8. Before Winston Churchill, no one thought that evil could be defeated on the ground a single speech
9. Before Mahatma Gandhi, no one imagined that century old colonies could be ousted without violence
10. Before Darwin, no one dared to question myths of religious theories on the origin of man

 

Then at a more personal level it could be something like this:

1. Before uncle John, I never thought I could speak up
2. Before coach Steve, I never imagined I could sell anything, but now I am the best salesman in town
3. Before counselor Sarah, I wasn’t able to live a normal life without fears and self-doubt
4. Before friend Jim, I did not realize that I was handsome (pretty)
5. Before teacher Lara, I thought I was not good at maths, when in fact I could excel but looking at the subject with a different approach
6. Before doctor Sumesh, I thought I never would be able to get out of my depression
7. Before wife …, I never realized that I too was a capable person and now I am earning 100 times more
8. Before husband …, I never thought I would be happy again, now I am happy amidst the worst miseries
9. Before son …, I thought my life was meaningless, now I compete everyday for him
10. Before daughter …, I thought I was unbeatable, now I realize it doesn’t matter

 

 

Then at the level of organizations and entreprise,

1. Before CEO Ramul, the company was struggling to survive, now the same resources and people are striving for number 1 position in the industry having reached no.4
2. Before CEO Abby, it was a pain to come to work, now missing work is almost painful: so much fun is work
3. Before manager Alok, I felt I was good for nothing, now I feel so worthy and my performance has peaked
4. Before supervisor Jane, there always were quarrels in the workplace, now peace and collegiality are the only standards we know
5. Before the chairman Bilah, we were ashamed to tell people where we worked, but now we proudly walk with our badges on in the streets and brag in parties
6. Before the accountant Nila came, our salaries never came on time, now we are paid on the exact date every month
7. Before the salesman Hariano, we never thought that our products could be sold in this scale, at that speed and to those target groups
8. Before the engineer Sudip, we had accepted the efficiency could not get better, but he doubled it in the first month and made it five times better in one year
9. Before employee Sally, we thought it was unacceptable to be jovial at work, but now happiness and stress go together in our office culture
10. Before entrepreneur Jonathan, we couldnot even dare to think this idea would work but now it is generating millions a year while we are having fun

 

At some point all these people ‘changed the world’.  For some the world was really the world and its billions of people.  For some it was the citizens of their nations.  For some it was their circle of family and friends.  For some it was the staffs and the invested money. 

 

So we all make a difference, whether we know it or not.  Here are some examples:

 

1. Somebody in Singapore, one day stuck his chewing gum on the automatic door of the train.  It happened that the door could not open as a result.  Consequently, the Singapore government banned chewing gum in the country.  I bet that this person never knew he changed a whole way of life for millions of people.
2. One person decided that it was better to let go of his mortage than to break his back trying to pay his debts on the house.  Millions of debtors followed this decision.  As the result the recession of 2009 occurred.
3. A fast driver thought it was cool to overtake other cars.  Disrupted, a car lost control while the fast driver had no clue since he had passed the place long ago.  The car in question then hit another car and there was a series of crashes killing 10 people. 
4. A local man cheated a tourist , and now the whole region is labeled as ‘cheating region’ and tourists are warned about going to that region. 
5. A mother did not scold her son when he came home with a stolen pencil from his friend in class.  Over the years the boy became a career thief.  In court he pledged that he never knew it was wrong to steal since his mother had never discouraged him and it was her they should sentence not him. 
6. Some one overused facebook.com in the company, now the management has banned this site
7. A bunch of people decided to party with loud music, and so many neighbors had a sleepless night
8. A shopkeeper sold a foreign made product over a local product of same quality because he got more commision on the former, and the whole factory at home was closed down within a year, with thousands losing their jobs, also affecting that shopekeeper’s sales badly
9. A Nepali broke the law in the foreign land and now all nepalese are treated like crooks in these airports
10. A political leader took the stance of indecision because the pressures were too high or the commisions were not good enough.  As a result a whole nation (nepal) suffers from load shedding, poor infrastructure, disastrous city planning, disbalanced growth, near national economic failure

 

So at the end I believe that we all are making an impact good or bad in the world. 

 

You too have a choice to make on how you are going to ‘change the world.’