change the world

I wrote this a few days ago...

I was listening to a Ben Harper song the other day that I think is a great reminder for all of us. It says:

I can change the world, with my own two hands.
Make a better place, with my own two hands.
Make a kinder place, with my own two hands.
I can make a peace on earth with my own two hands.
I can clean up the earth with my own two hands.
I can reach out to you, with my own two hands.
I'm gonna make it a brighter place
I'm gonna make it a safer place
I'm gonna help the human race
With my own two hands.

Sometimes we feel pretty helpless against the great problems and injustices that we face in this world, but we really can do something. Margaret Mead said,

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

I think these two quotes are actually talking about pretty different things, but they are both great things for us to think about, and very encouraging reminders. Ben Harper is talking about the small differences we can make in the world around us, and how we are capable of changing the world for someone by the little things we do. A great example of this would be the work that I was translating for last week of helping people learn to uses prostheses and learn to walk. We changed the world for the people who we were working with. Mead on the other hand is talking about major worldwide changes (I think). The world doesn't change itself, and we're not helpless when it comes to which direction the world is going to go. We have the power to change it if we are truly committed to a cause.

I've been thinking about what to do with my future, and I really don't know. I'm pretty certain that I want to go back to school, but I'm not sure if that's something I want to do soon, or whether I want to do some more international work first, or maybe start my coffee shop. I'm also not sure what I want to go back to school for. There are a lot of things that I enjoyed studying, and a lot of things that I would like to study more. Since I'm going to be around Michigan this fall filling in for my brother at my dad's warehouse, I think I'm going to try to take a few classes-and I think at least one of them is going to be in Psychology, but I'm not exactly sure yet-I need to look into it.
My problem isn't really that I don't know what I want to do, but that there are too many things I want to do, and I don't know how to do all of them or which to do first. Part of me says that I need to just take life as it comes and figure it out as I go, but to some extent I do need to make some plans, and there will come times when I will have to decide what to do next. I'm not worrying about it too much yet though. While I'm down here I'm just trying to take it one day at a time and enjoy it. I only have six weeks left, and only about four until my sister comes for a couple weeks. I don't think I'm going to be too ready to go home, but it will be good to see friends and family again. And to tell the truth, there are things I'm going to enjoy about my rich lifestyle back in the states...like driving, riding my motorcycle, and going out in the boat. It's hard, because the simple life that I think I should be living is very different from how I grew up. I always had everything I needed, and almost everything I wanted, and now I don't want to have so much, because if everyone lived that life we would deplete all the worlds resources in no time. That's not the only reason I want to live a more simple life of course, I don't want to live in luxury when so many people live in extreme poverty. Now, I know some pretty rich people who do great things to help those who are living in poverty, and who are very generous with their money, but we could always do more. For instance, if I was making $200,000 a year, I could give away half of that and still live a luxurious life, but why not give away 160k or 170k of it and live a very simple life? I could still afford a better life than the majority of the world. --I'm not really sure where this came from, I certainly wasn't planning on writing about it, but it is something that struggle with a lot. So far I haven't had to worry about it too much because I don't actually own too many things, I've been living off my parents, but I won't be doing that too much longer, and then I'm going to have to start dealing with this in a lot more real way.
I haven't been doing much reading lately--slowly working my way through Walden and a few short stories by Tolstoy. I don't have much to share from my readings other than that Thoreau makes me want to go build a simple little cabin in the woods. There was a great quote that I shared with Becky and she asked me to post it, so here it is:
There are nowadays professors of philosophy, but not philosophers. Yet it is admirable to profess because it was once admirable to live. To be a philosopher is not merely to have subtle thoughts nor even to found a school, but so to love wisdom as to live according to its dictates, a life of simplicity, independence, magnanimity, and trust. It is to solve some of the problems of life, not only theoretically, but practically.
I'm sure there are some other great quotes, but I haven't been doing much underlining, so I don't have more to share right now, I'll try to work on that.
So I'm almost out of books. There are only a few more that I own, and I plan to read most (if not all) of those by the time I leave Guate. Does anyone have any suggestions? I'll be looking for a bunch of books to buy when I get home, so share with me what some of your favorites are, and maybe I'll even order a couple so they'll be waiting for me at home.
That's all for today...have a wonderful week.
Peace and Love.