Change The World By Changing Yourself

There are so many problems in this world: natural disasters, poverty, incurable diseases, people killing people…When you turn on TV, you will find that most news are negative news. You might have pondered these questions many times already: what on earth is going on and where is the world leading to? And how can we change the world?

Do we change the world by toughening laws and locking all the criminals away in jail? Do we change the world by sending troops to other nations and using weapons to help them? Do we change the world by condemning and cursing the evil and immoral? Do we change the world by becoming politicians or church leaders? Do we change the world by criticising, complaining and hating? Do we change the world by attacking our opponents and teaching them a lesson?

These are what’s happening. These are our solutions to the worldly problems. So many people want to change the world, yet so many more problems have been caused due to these actions.

We are all part of the big family. Many of us are genuinely concerned about the worldly issues. Most of us have a sense of personal responsibility and individual initiative to want to make the world a better place. However, for you and me - the vast majority of the population, what practical and constructive things we can do to help the world become a better place?

There are actually a lot you and I can do to change the world. Before I explain it, let me share the following story with you first.

Christina is my new colleague who joined the company about two months ago. Although this is her first paid job since graduation from University, I’ve learnt that she had had a wealth of working experiences already as a social worker.

Last week I happened to find out that she sponsors the education of an eight-year old girl in India under the ‘World Vision’ programme. She is only twenty three years old and has just embarked on her first paid job, yet she’s been a sponsor of that India girl for five years!

What an inspiration! From Christina, I’m sure you can see how you and me can change the world. We don’t have to be rich and powerful to influence hundreds and thousand of people to change the word. By giving hope to one person, we are changing this world! While all of us may wish to put an end to all problems; the most realistic thing to do, is to put our love thoughts into action! There is no use to think globally if we can’t act locally! Without action, everything is lip service. A train load of intellectual analysing and criticising about global issues wouldn’t make a damn difference to the world unless someone does something about it like Christina did!

We can’t change the world. But we can, change the world by changing ourselves. If we want the world stops suffering, we must know how to stop our own suffering first! If we hate violence, terrorism and wars, don’t use abusive languages to people around us and don’t start a war at home! If we want to stop poverty, create wealth for ourselves so we can take good care of ourselves rather than receiving government’s assistance or subsidy! If we resent the climbing divorce rate, feed nutrition constantly to our own marriage! If we don’t like to see people suffer from incurable disease, take good care of your own physical health so you don’t become one of them! If you want to stop one nation from coercing another, be kind and humble to your family, friends, colleagues and neighbours! If you don't want to see your country's economy collapse due to huge fiscal deficit, don't get into personal debt!

By loving our own parents, we extend our love to all parents; by loving our own children, we love all children; by showing respect to a stranger, we show respect to all strangers. We are a tiny drop in an ocean, but we are ocean; as without drops, there is no such a thing as ocean.

If we change, our world changes. By changing ourselves, we change the environment around us. Don’t complain how dark the world is; light a candle! There is always something we can do, to make a difference. God doesn’t expect us to change the world, as He already has his own plan about this world. But He probably does expect us to take good care of ourselves, solve our own problems before we have the ambition to solve His problem - the world's problems.