Can i change the world?

Can i make any difference to the world? Can i make any difference to my country? At least, can i make a difference to the people and society around me? On numerous occasions, we get ideas and plans to bring about a change around us.... for the better. But in most such occasions, what stops us are some questions like these or some very simple but logical doubts in our mind.

What if no one else is ready to change? 

What difference does it make if only i change?

Well, i grew up with similar doubts in my mind that stopped me from making so many attempts at doing great things in life till i read the below story, which changed my entire thought process.

We talk about corruption, cleanliness around us, traffic rules or for that matter anything else that we wish should be immediately corrected. But what stops us from going and bringing that change in the society are some of the questions and doubts as stated above.

I have a completely different belief system now. If you ask me now, actually it does not matter whether any one else is ready to change or not, or anyone else will actually ever change or not or whether you would be able to bring a difference to your society, country or the world or not. Yes, it does not matter at all. What matters is what you do !!

Let me try and explain this concept through a short story which triggered the change in me some time back.

There was a house in a village which unfortunately caught fire. The fire became very intense very fast, because of the high winds and the combustible material that the house was made of. By the time villagers could gather around and plan to take some steps to extinguish the fire, almost half of the house was already gutted. There was no scope of calling a fire brigade in such a remote village. The only hope was if some of the villagers could make a dedicated effort to get some water and start pouring on to the house. But it all seemed too little too late. There were a few who were still trying to get some buckets full of water from the nearby well, but it was just not good enough to have any significant impact on the deadly fire that had engulfed almost the entire house by now. The situation was hopeless. Most of the villagers were now "onlookers" who had given up any hope to save the house.

Suddenly, someone detected a small bird flying at the top of the house and pouring a few drops of water on the house. The bird was flying back, getting its beak filled with water from the nearby pond, and coming back and throwing it at the top of the house. It was doing it repeatedly and was trying to do it as fast as it could. The people who had gathered around the house and were seeing the bird do this strange thing, asked an obvious question to the bird : "Do you think by doing what you are doing, you will have any kind of impact on the fire?". The bird ignored the question and kept trying. After 30 min, when the situation of the house under fire was hopeless, and the bird was still trying hard, the people again asked the seemingly "stupid" bird: "See, your efforts are not going to yield any result. You may very well stop trying. You are wasting your time and energy."

The bird halted for a minute and responded to all of them : "It does not matter whether my efforts would yield the results I want, It does not matter whether i would be able to extinguish the fire or not. I do not even know whether i can save anything in this house. It does not matter what will be the end result. I am not even thinking about that." When people heard this response from the bird, they were puzzled. I mean, if the end result does not matter, then what is the point making such an effort. They once again asked the bird: "If it does not matter whether the fire will get extinguished or not with your efforts, then why are you trying so hard?"

The bird stopped once again and replied calmly to all the onlookers: "When the history would be written and someone would read this incident ever in future, there would be 3 categories of beings that would be talked about - "First, those who lit the fire, Second, those who watched the fire, and third  those who made an attempt to extinguish the fire. I do not wish to be counted in the first two categories." Villagers were stunned by the response.

This story is not about the end result. It is about the intent, the effort and the thought process. I was amazed by the thought process of the bird. It is so important that you hold you own self in high esteem and for that to happen, you need to make an effort towards doing the right thing, without worrying about the end result or whether that would make any difference in the end or not.

Mahatma Gandhi once said : "Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment, full effort is full victory."

So go on, chase your dreams and goals. Live them while you have energy in your body and before your time runs out.  Do not keep procrastinating them. In the end, it will not matter whether you are able to achieve them or not. What will matter is that you made a serious attempt. At the end of life, this effort of making an attempt will give you immense satisfaction.

Cheers

Manoj Arora

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