Engineering change is never an easy thing

Salamu

How often do we take life for granted?

Have you ever sat down and asked that question? It’s human nature to get so engrossed with the problems that you are facing that you tend to forget how blessed you are despite the challenges.

I was…and still am at times like that. I am by no means claiming to be innocent in this matter. So I don’t judge or even get frustrated with people when they tell me that their problems are so insurmountable.

I merely point out a few things.

-   90% of the bullshit you worry about in life never happens.

-   No problem is insurmountable or unresolvable if you are willing to REALISTICALLY look at the situation UNEMOTIONALLY.

-    There is ALWAYS someone that is in a tougher situation than you.

I tend to be the person that people come to with problems. I don’t know why because I am currently on my second girlfriend ever, I’m only 31 and I am by no means a master in my faith.  Anyway….we digress. People tend to come to me with their problems because:

-      I am a good listener

-      I am able to look at a situation in a pretty practical way when it doesn’t involve me.

But how often do we forget about the challenges that other people face in life?

A friend of mine gets in touch with me and tells me that he is having trouble with his girlfriend because they see too much of each other and it is “busting his balls”. Really?????? I only get to see my girl once every few months. I’d actually kill to have your problem buddy.  

We always complain that we don’t have enough money and we wish we could win the lottery. Yet we go home every night to a warm bed, a roof over our head and decent food. Every morning I go to work I see homeless people sleeping in the shelter of a balcony overhang outside of the local TAB office. I’m sorry…I’m starting to come to terms with the fact that I’ll never win the lottery in my life time because God (or any higher power that other religions believe in) equipped us with enough graces, we shouldn’t worry about winning UNNESSESARY money.

But change is one of the hardest things in the world to achieve. We get so used to our own ways and living life in a comfort zone that change is one of the hardest things in the world to achieve. Ask me…I have had to engineer significant changes recently.

How does one change? Well, first there needs to be a reason for change. Second you need to look at who needs to change. Most of the time it is you. Mahatma Gandhi hit the nail on the head when he said that we need to be the change that we seek in the world. A lot of people made fun of Michael Jackson and called him all kinds of names…but was he not striking the right chord when he said: I'm starting with the man in the mirror. I'm asking him to change his ways. And no message could have been any clearer. If you wanna make the world a better place, take a look at yourself, and then make a change.

I don’t usually give anything up for lent because I end up breaking it the same day. I have very little self restraint. But I always try to make an effort to be nicer to people. A kind word, a helpful gesture, money to an outie, food to an outie or distraught animal. But my logic is flawed…what’s stopping me from doing this all year round? Did Jesus only do good for the people during certain periods? No! Did Gandhi? No! Did Mother Teresa? No! These people devoted their whole life to doing good. Mother Teresa helped a lot of people, but compared to the volume of destitute people in India, we have to come to terms with the fact that her work was a drop in the ocean. But it was a necessary drop because she felt that by preventing one death…she was doing good to society. Changing it.

There are a lot of doomsday prophets that will tell you that you will never be able to change the world. And they are right. But we have to try. If we can make society look at itself differently, then we have achieved a goal.

I am by no means a bitter man, I give a lot. But this is emotionally and of my time. At heart, I am a firm believer in the saying that charity begins at home.  Perhaps I need to change this. Be the change that I seek in the world.

Mei jua daima kuwa kabla yenu, na vivuli nyuma yako!

How often do we just walk past beggars in the street?