Ladies and Gentlemen, I have two questions for you. Who is an individual? What is power?
Well, an individual is YOU looked at separately from groups, community or society. An individual is single. Power is the ability or opportunity to make things happen.
Now individual power is about how much power you have as an individual to bring changes and make difference in yourself or in the life of others.
There are no shortage of examples of stories on how one person, one movement, one action, one word can make an enormous difference.
In might have come up with such examples in our won journey. However for many people, with demands of work and home and seemingly increasing pace of life and scope of issues on the world stage, we wonder just how much difference one person can make?
When you raise such questions. The trick here is to stop looking out worldly. You should bring your attention closer to home, neighborhood, our own days, our own society and our minds.
Let me give you few examples, which has brought differences in alignment to this concept.
Firstly let’s look into the case of United States. How did slaves become free in the US?
It all began with a man named Abraham Lincoln; he wanted to set the slaves free. But the southern states had larger plantation. They needed slaves to help. This was not good in their idea.
This controversy led to the civil war, which was eventually won by the north, and the slaves were set free in the US. An opinion of one man created a phenomenon in-group behavior that called reaction in a critical mass.
Now lets take our thoughts to the southern border. Mahatma Gandhi overthrew the British
rule through his principle of “non-violence”. He said, “Be the change that you wish to see in your world.”
Mother Teresa rightly pointed, “If you want change, pick up a broom.”
With these lines they are emphasizing on initiation of an action. They are asking us to revolt all within ourselves and be aware of our power. Then be the change that we wish to see in your world.
However be clear that this revolution of yours is a question rather than an answer. Revolutionary process in itself has to be understood as a process of asking, a process of moving out and not telling people the answers.
But it’s the process of involving people in a movement of self-determination to be the change that they want to see in their world.
My friends Abraham Lincoln, Gandhi, Mother Teresa like many others were more or less a normal people. However when the opportunities popped, they rose to the occasion in a smaller ways. In time their day-to-day decisions and actions added to their lifetime achievement.
That was their journey. They had their purpose. Every individual has his own purpose.
There are many ways within our reach. However it just begins with a conscious choice to make a positive impact and it should unfold from here.
It’s all about the self-realization of your power and conscious choice to be the change that you would want to see in your world.
Lastly let me repeat that one person can make a lot of difference. You can be the person who does, a entrepreneur who does, a teacher who does, a social worker who does, a writer who does, student who does, a civil servant who does……………
– Anup Bhandari
