My fifteen year old daughter and I recently attended a youth rally for our church. The theme was "Be the change you wish to see in the world," (from Gandhi) and it was inspiring. The irony of it all has not gone without notice, the fact that Obama is about change and that many spiritual or philosophical communities are about change this year. It seems that change and moving forward are the messages all around us. The event we attended was led by high school youths from all over the western part of the United States. They were wise, intelligent, well spoken and passionate about moving the world into a better tomorrow. These are our future leaders and the fact that they have an instinctive understanding of the principles and philosophies that Obama speaks about says a lot to me. It says that Obama is in touch with the pulse of our future generation and that is important considering us old folks want to know we will be in good hands. My daughter has been so inspired by Obama's message and what she is learning through our church that she has decided to work on raising money to go to Malawi and help build schools with the Unity Malawi project. To see my daughter who was struggling with her identity a few years ago find her purpose and passion through the works of people like the Obamas and her church peers makes me so proud. She has put into practice the words "Be the change." My husband and I are also inspired. We realize that changing what is wrong with our society or the world starts with changing ourselves. Looking in the mirror and finding the truth about what you present to the world can be uncomfortable. Most of the time it is a shock to realize how much whining, complaining, judging, and criticizing comes through our thoughts and out our mouths. Admitting we have our own cleaning up to do, we've made a commitment to look at the good in everyone and see how we may serve, versus watching for someone to wrong us or slip up so that we can justify our fear and anger. As Barack Obama says it, "Change starts from the bottom up..." I challenge you to be the change. Start with your approach to others and making an attempt to see the good in everyone, not make assumptions about them and move beyond petty negative issues. My minister put it this way, "Stay in the F.L.O.W., Forgiveness, Love, Overcoming, Worthiness, and life will be wonderful."
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