“Be the change that you want to see in the world. ” Mahatma Gandhi

Stop! Don’t read another word. I recommend that you spend the rest of your day, or the remainder of this week, or this entire month, or longer if you wish, reading and re-reading the Mahatma Gandhi quote and then determining exactly what that means for you.

Can you internalize the significance of “being the change”. Can you explain, without falter, how the world would change? How would people living in your newly created world live, act, and interact? Start today….live with the commitment that you will change the world in some small way. Do something that matters.

I’ve just finished a book written by Blake Mycoskie. titled “Start Something That Matters.” Blake calls himself the Chief Shoe Giver at TOMS. I’m not going into his whole story but if you would like to know more you can buy the book or go on the internet to learn all about Blake Mycoskie and TOMS shoes. His story is fascinating and inspirational.

I have been in a reflective mood of late. As I approach my 69th birthday I contemplate life changing decisions, alternative scenario’s that are in my control and anticipated scenario’s that are out of my control. For instance, my mental, physical and spiritual health and well-being is only partially in my control. Poor health for myself, my spouse, or a family member can dramatically alter life’s direction. Today, we are all healthy. I’m grateful. And, I try to express my gratefulness by being a positive person, full of energy, willing to be helpful to others as much as I can be within reason.

I feel blessed to have a great part-time consulting role with Nine Network along with a few other smaller projects that keep me mentally engaged in meaningful work. Hopefully, the results of this work will benefit others.

As an example, a few years ago, when I was working full time, we partnered with a women who led the Children’s Service Fund. Together, we created video programming all about heroin addiction. We ran a heavy schedule of messages addressing a severe problem faced by high-school students and their families. One of these productions included a televised Town-Hall meeting. During the one-hour show a 13-year old girl, on the brink of suicide, called the help-line phone number to get an emergency intervention. Looking back, I now judge the success of our three-year initiative with the Children’s Service Fund by this one incident. What impact did this initiative have over three years? I believe, at least one life was saved. Much more was accomplished, but nothing more important than that one girl.

Three years ago Nine Network started working with a group of environmentalist. These are interesting committed people who represent leading organizations in our region, i.e. The Nature Conservancy, The Missouri Botanical Gardens, Open Space Council, Magnificent Missouri, the Missouri State Conservation group and many others. I was partially responsible for finding the necessary financial resources in order to create an on-air, online and on the ground initiative called “Water Matters.” This past week I learned that this group will plant 10,000 trees along the Meramec River this fall. There were many other positive outcomes from all of our work together, but years from now I will bet few people will care about how many viewers we had, or how much money we raised or if we covered our expenses or not. I’ll remember that I played a small role in getting those 10,000 trees planted.

In Blake Mycoskie’s book, “Start Something that Matters” he asks his readers three questions. If you didn’t have to work for money, what would you do? What kind of work would you want to do? What cause would you serve?

So, will leave you contemplating Mycoskie’s questions. And, I leave you with these quotes for inspiration.

“Change your thoughts and you change your world.” Norman Vincent Peale

“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” Thomas Edison

“Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.” Winston Churchill

And my favorite….

“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” Mahatma Gandhi