WHAT YOU DO MAKES A DIFFERENCE
“What you do makes a
difference;
and, you have to
decide
what kind of
difference you want to make.”
Jane Goodall
Jane Goodall passed away (this October, 1) living an eventful life for close to 91
years. In my view, what is the most inspiring thing for us to see is: She lived a
life as young, curious, and passionate as she had decided to live it when she
was barely a 10-year-old…
For
those who aren’t familiar with this amazing woman, I say this: There is loads
of material on her life’s work with chimpanzees in African forests (Tanzania) –
books, magazine articles, videos, speeches, TV appearances, award shows and
much more – that, I have no intention to write, here, anything biographical about
this legend…
My
intention of mentioning Dr. Jane Goodall, who spent her entire life dedicating
her life around animals – especially chimpanzees – is to remind ourselves, that
our work has an impact on others…
That
means, what work you and I do – all our lives – can be equally noble or equally
evil, depending on what kind of difference we want our work to make…
That’s
why, I have cited madam Jane Goodall’s words at the outset:
“What you do makes a
difference;
and, you have to
decide
what kind of
difference you want to make.”
Making a
difference begins, invariably, with the desire of wanting to make a difference
in one’s own life. I started teaching because I wanted to make a difference in
my own life – by feeling worthwhile, confident and purposeful. I did not start
with some grand, fancy plan to make a difference in other people’s lives. Trust
me, that came alongside the desire to make my own life purposeful and
worthwhile.
I am absolutely
sure, that unless we do justice to our own lives first, we cannot give justice to
others’ lives…
Young Jane
stepped into the African jungles to do exactly the same… and, along her long
jungle safari, she made the legendary difference that we witnessed…
All of us have
choices to make once we decide to follow our hearts: to stay faithful to our souls,
or to sell our souls, as we desire to grow big and bigger…
A
dear one, the other night, messaged me: “Please watch the serial (on Netflix) ‘13th
– Some Lessons Aren’t Taught in Classrooms’… We remembered you while watching
it.”
My wife and I
watched this latest serial on the life of popular teacher Mohit Tyagi (MT Sir).
It’s an inspiring story about an incredibly gifted teacher – simple and
dedicated – and how one of his old students comes back in teacher’s life to
motivate him to think big, scale it to newer heights…
I liked the story…
The struggle to stay faithful to your soul - or sell your soul – yes, often, one
has to make this choice along his ‘jungle safari’…
On watching the
serial, in my mind, I wished well for MT Sir… “May God guard him”, I prayed…
Then,
some weeks ago, my wife and I reluctantly watched Aryan Khan’s directorial
debut with ‘Ba***ds of Bollywood’. My wife and I were alone at home while
watching this… We were looking at each other when every second word was being dished
out… and, I was asking this: “Does young Aryan Khan want to make this kind of
difference in the lives of others, especially the very young ones?”
They say, the
world is changing at an insane speed... and, we all need to adapt to this
insanity, too… Or else.....?
Dr. Jane Goodall
lived faithful to her work till she died at 91, reminding us this… yes, I am
repeating:
“What you do makes a
difference;
and, you have to
decide
what kind of
difference you want to make.”
GERALD D’CUNHA
Pic's: 1. www.channel103.com 2. www.motherjones.com
Videos: Chuck Brown
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