You must be the change you wish to see in the world
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This quote is attributed to Mahatma Gandhi; a man who in his lifetime achieved so much through his simple philosophy of Satyagraha—that of nonviolent resistance. Gandhi faced down incalculable odds to obtain such things as civil rights for Indians in South Africa and Swaraj for India.
It does not take a "Great Soul" like Gandhi, however, to inspire change. Changes can be great or small and we are all capable of instigating them. And the changes you make could be personal or social.
Politics is a prime example of an area that is just ripe for change at the moment. In Britain, we have two main political parties and a host of smaller ones that probably won't see power under our first past the post system. However, regardless of the number of parties, the scope of political opinion has become very narrow. While once the parties may have been polarised, modern politics has seen them all converge on a middle ground, making it difficult to differentiate one from the other.
While the politicians grow concerned about voter apathy—the low turnouts at the polls—it is probably the politicians' own apathy that has made the voters feel that it doesn't really matter who they vote for, or if they vote at all. In the recent local election, I saw nothing of our local candidates—and I know that I'm not alone in that. Could it be that they have run out of unique messages to bestow? If so, in order to win back the disillusioned voters, something needs to change.
In my own life, I'm trying to find ways to instigate change in a variety of areas—notably at work. As with government politics, there is always a risk in any large organisation that those at the top of the chain will lose touch with the majority below. The change I hope to see is that these gaps are bridged and for my part in this change, I plan to be one of many to build those bridges. I'm addressing the changes I believe are necessary and coming up with ways and means to make them.
Change is a necessary part of life and existence. Without change, we wouldn't have evolved into the life forms we are now. And we wouldn't be able to bring about the changes in our own lives that will allow us to enjoy the time we have. Sometimes making a change can seem to be an insurmountable challenge. Often, such challenges are only impossible because we're too overawed to take them on.
In the end, it's all well and good to come up with the great ideas for positive change. But often those ideas will never come into fruition unless you put them into action. To make things happen, you need to be prepared to play your part.
"You must be the change you wish to see in the world."