Be the Change You Wish to See In the World.

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world." -Mahatma Gandhi.

This is a very well-known quote, I believe. It is a very good way of cleanly summarizing this whole world-change topic in an understandable and relatable way. What does it mean to you? To me, it says that just wishing for something to happen isn't enough. Poverty or starvation or child labour in Africa will not end if you don't do anything about it.

Kids and teenagers my age don't usually think they can do anything about it. We're just kids, right? That stuff should be left to the experienced, professional, adults. But what they are starting to discover is that they soon will be those adults with that responsibility. This generation has, almost literally, the world on their shoulders. We will be the turning point that must work to improve and fix the starvation in Africa, child labour in Bangladesh and poverty in Cuba. Now that everyone has realized this, my generation is under a lot of pressure to make a difference in the world and have an impact on other people. But maybe it is too much at some times.. after all, right NOW, we are still kids.

I feel sometimes like I could take on a task for an adult in changing the world, but I wouldn't have a clue where to start. There is so much that needs to be improved, but to start a business like Free the Children or something like that feels like way too big of a job; almost impossible. I'm not Craig Kielburger! But he started out the same way as me, only slightly more oblivious to what was going on, and I don't think I can have an impact? Maybe I should rethink.

Lately i've really been considering options to change things. Terry Fox ran across Canada to raise money for Cancer, but i'm not good at anything the same way he is at running. What could I possibly do?! Well, to people in Canada - and America for that matter - who have it easy, maybe they wouldn't think much of anything I would do. But to those children in Africa, practically anything is a big help, no matter how insignificant it is to me. And there the ones who need to be helped out. So I don't need to run across the country, or start my own business before i'm fourteen. Maybe I will someday, but for now, I will stick to the small stuff because that way I know I can handle it. For now, i'm still dreaming about the BIG changes I could make to those kids.

Andie, xoxo.