When I was younger, before high school, I could not wait to go to college. I loved my family and my hometown, but I was ready to mature and skip right ahead to the next chapter in my life. I knew what I was going to do. I was going to change the world. I dreaded the thought of passing away and all that was going to be left of me was a withered headstone. I wanted to be in textbooks, with everyone knowing my name.
I guess one could say I wanted to be famous, however I can not sing, act, or have any special talent. In fact, I am pretty mediocre at everything, I’m not great at anything. This drove me crazy. I tried sports, dance, academics– everything. I was not natural at anything, and I really did not have passion for any of those things that I tried, therefore I did not work for them.
Because I was not good at anything, I decided I was going to change the world by doing some sort of awesome act of kindness. I did not necessarily know what, but that I was going to. I wanted to do something big, again, so that I wouldn’t end up a withering, unlegible headstone someday.
What I did not understand was that my intentions were not good. I could try and be like Mother Teresa, but it would not mean anything if it was not from my heart.
Luckily, I was fortunate enough to realize that. I got a huge smack in the face one day when I realized this towards the end of my sophomore year.
I was studying my parents. My mother is a middle school art teacher and my dad runs a local non-profit organization that helps kids and their families overcome different struggles. As I became more aware of their effect on people in their seemingly typical jobs, I got that huge smack in the face mentioned earlier.
I don’t have to be president of the United States to change the world.
As I look at my mom and dad I see something really amazing. Neither of them are Gandhi or Martin Luther King, but man, they make an incredible difference in the world.
What’s especially cool about them is they have a passion for what they do. Everything they do in their jobs, even in their lives, comes from their hearts. That’s a lesson I sure needed.