Effect Change

I cannot start or stop a war. I don't want to. Wars come and go. People remain. I want to effect a Change in the people. I want the Change to last and spread. I want the person sitting next to me to Change. I'm hoping he'll pass it on. I'll ensure he does. 'Cos pushing this mighty mountain needs a lot of hands.

My previous post was not about the value of Money - it was about making use of it to achieve a purpose in life. I won't donate whatever I earn to the less privileged. That would not be achieving my purpose. I'd rather use whatever I have in excess to make a Change in the lives of one or two or a few kids. I'd help them seek their dream and teach them to pass on the Change. It won't break me. It would rather fill me with the happiness that I did my part in effecting the Change. I'd make my friends realize that happiness too. The Change would take place - slowly but surely.

The Change would break the illusion of materialistic happiness ( it wears away with time). The Change can be initiated only by those who have a purpose in life. When I have a purpose in life, I'd do whatever I can to keep me going towards it - Money would help me , moral support from family and friends, a healthy body.... The following is from a random site that explains what I mean by purpose :

"The psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi has spent over 30 years studying the question of what makes human beings happy, and has also come to the conclusion that happiness is not, as he says, 'the result of good fortune or random chance,' or 'something that money can buy.' According to him, we come closest to experiencing true happiness when we experience the state of flow, which he defines as 'a state of concentration so focused that it amounts to complete absorption in activity.' When we're in flow we forget ourselves, forget our surroundings and the circumstances of our lives. The negative self-talk which normally fills our minds fades away and we feel that we are one with the activity we're performing. We experience flow when we have challenging and demanding tasks to do at work, when we play games, sports or musical instruments, or even when we become absorbed in household chores like mending a fence or doing the garden. And it's always a positive experience, generating a powerful sense of well-being. A chess player told Csikszentmihalyi, for example, that when he plays the game, 'I have a general sense of well-being, and a feeling of complete control over my world.' A dancer described to him the state of well-being she experiences during a performance: 'A strong relaxation and calmness comes over me. I have no worries of failure. What a powerful and warm feeling it is! I want to expand, to hug the world. I feel enormous power to effect something of grace and beauty.'"

Not everyone has the opportunity to realize this true happiness. When I feel that enormous power, I'd use it to effect the Change.

What is this Change? Behind all the 'happiness and love' thingy, it is to realize the plain truth - to survive. Man is a social animal. He just cannot survive by stamping on and ruling over the others of his kind. He also cannot sit back and watch others doing it. A war might help snuffing out the stupid ones. But it can never produce the Change. The Change has to be in the hearts of people. In the hearts of the common people - to make a happy society. In the hearts of the people in power - to do what they are commissioned to do - serve the people, punish the stupid ones and keep the society stable.