“Be the Change, You want to see in the world.” -M.K. Gandhi
"Think Globally, Act Locally." -Vinoba Bhave

In the Chinese folklore, there is the story of an ambitious young man who, on his twentieth birthday, became consumed with the desire to change the world. He spent the next 20 years trying to do that but couldn’t.
At age 40, he settled for trying to change China. He spent the next 20 years trying to do that but couldn’t.
At age 60, he settled for trying to change his village. For the next 20 years he tried to do that but failed.
At age 80, he decided to focus on changing his family. He spent the next 20 years trying to do that but couldn’t.
At age 100, he decided to focus on changing himself.
But the next day, he died.

We all want to change the world. Few actually do.

There has been a time in our lives, when we wanted to change the world for the better.
“There is so much inequality in this world, something needs to be done about it”;
“Why can’t people just use public transport, I can’t even breathe properly in Delhi’s air”;
We criticised the government.“I Wish better politicians are elected”, we said.
We preached change to our friends, family, colleagues. We dreamt of changing the world.
Once we realised that changing the world was difficult, we gave up on those dreams. We let those dreams wash away, and tried to achieve “realistic” goals that other people gave us. We defended our egos. “One person can’t make a difference, anyway.”
Changing the world seems an insurmountable task.
It is because we approach it in the wrong way. We try to bring sweeping changes in the social, political or economic structures. But these structures have been quite sturdy for so long, that changing these is almost impossible.
The truth is we can make a change, a single person can make a change. But for it to succeed, we need to change our thoughts, habits and actions. We need to change ourselves first.

One such person who inspired a chain of global events, by embarking upon a journey of personal change is Greta Thunberg,Times 2019 Person of the Year. Greta made her way from her native Sweden to America via sailboat, because she thinks jetliners emit too much carbon. This journey of hers, is believed to have played a role in a recent 4% drop in the number of commercial passengers flying in Sweden, where the term “flygskam,” or flight shame, has gained popularity. The good news is, the impact is not only limited to Sweden, but has spilled over to jurisdictions across the world.

There are plenty of stories of individuals who have decided to change their travel behaviour for the sake of environment.
One such story is of Gurumoorthy Mathrubootham who lives in Bengaluru and has decided not to take a domestic flight. He has pledged to travel domestically only via trains and other environmentally sustainable means of transportation.
Bobby Ramakant, who hails from Lucknow, has not renewed his driving licence which means he'll not drive a car. He uses public transport, bicycle or at times just walks.

Inspired by these stories, I have also committed to cultivate a change in me. I have resolved to follow the Buddhist tenet of “Right Livelihood” and work on establishing fair and equitable business.

When it comes to global change, small steps can have big impact. We can become the harbinger of global change by:
- Taking a small but important step like carry a bag and not use plastic, planting a sapling, etc.
- Planting saplings.
- Making more important promises like using only public transport or bicycle instead of private motorised vehicle.
- Signing petitions to demand better public health, public education, etc.
- Supporting candidates in elections who are committed to not use illegal money.
- Help an underprivileged person/child fight poverty and malnourished.
- Help a survivor of sexual violence/discrimination.

If YOU want to make a positive impact on the world and make the world a better place, I urge you to take positive steps that you find worthwhile. Kindly mention your Name, Designation, and Change that you want to incorporate in yourself or have already incorporated, in the google doc provided below. This will help to guide your personal journey and inspire similar changes in others.

Warm Regards,
Abhay Jain