Changing the World

"I am going to change the world by becoming famous! I will change the world by running for president! I will be a politician, an activist, a warrior!" I will be perfectly honest, I do not have such plans, so I will begin by tossing out the pointless melodrama and the theatrical, banal piffle.

My plans for changing the world are at once far more humble and far more grand, my plan is simple, I will live, I will learn, I will write, and I will teach. I am not concerned with changing the geopolitical boundaries of bickering countries, with winning or losing elections, such things are superficial, they are sometimes the result of world-transforming behaviour, but almost never the cause. The people in my life who have effected me the most are not presidents, not astronauts, not fighters or politicians, they are teachers. I will live and learn, I will accumulate experience and knowledge, I will travel, I will be a thinker, a philosophizer. I will then write, I will collect and spread my ideas and opinions; the old adage "the pen is mightier than the sword" could not be more true. The clashing of swords may echo for seconds, minutes, incremental fractions in history, but the resounding sound of pens meeting paper are heard throughout eternity, immortalized in ink. I believe that all great writers eventually have an epiphany, up until a certain point, great writers write to satisfy their passion for writing, then they reach a point where they realize that their words have the tremendous power to affect strangers in the most complicated and bizarre ways. Christopher Hitchens wrote about reaching this point in his article "A Death in the Family" (http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/11/hitchens200711)
I hope to some day reach this point, when my words will become manifested in the actions of others, when I can begin to change the world by changing people's opinions.

Changing the world through writing is merely a hope, it has yet to occur (and I doubt it ever will), my main plan for changing the world is far more simple, and far more achievable; I will teach. The most influential people in my life have been teachers, have been people who have unconsciously created the lust for learning within their students, this task, nay, this duty, is as close to the term "sacred" as I can imagine. To answer the question, I will live my life as fully as I can, I will try to gain as much knowledge and experience as I can, and I will teach, I will pass my knowledge and wisdom (assuming that I have any) down through the generations, to help inspire in my students the same passion for learning, the same burning desire to make a difference that certain individuals have inspired within me.

Aled