What does it take to change the world?

Last night we watched Amazing Grace. This raised, again, the questions that I am always fighting with. Namely:

1. What does one need to be willing to give to change the world?

2. How does one actually go about changing the world?

I will not pretend to have answers to these. As a matter of fact I don't think these are answerable questions. Look at Mother Theresa and Bill Gates. Both have changed the world for the better, but no one would suggest that they made anything approaching "in kind" sacrifices. What does this mean?

I think parents need to be careful how we portray "world changing". It is easy to set up goals or stereotypes that are, quite honestly, impossible. Bill Gates could never be Mother Theresa, Likewise Mother Theresa could never have been Bill Gates. Yet both are well beyond me. Does that mean that I can never change the world?

Let's be honest. Yes. And no. Not every person is here to make global contributions to the suffering masses. But we are all able to change someone's world. I can show my children what it means to love, what caring looks like, how to be generous. I can live a life my neighbors envy, not for its financial prosperity, but for its peace and contentment.

A one man revolution? Maybe. At least my world will be changed.