I don't know if there's any change more significant that a human being can make than that of a woman becoming a mother. There's no change more dramatic.
I don't think any change in the world has been more significant than the change in the status of women. . . . A woman's world was her home, her family, and perhaps a little community service. Today, a woman's world is as broad as the universe.
Significant and seemingly impossible social and political change happens more often than we think, and it happens more rapidly than we realize. Even the most momentous change is always possible if one finds the right way to make it happen.
Nothing has given me more hope recently than to observe how simple conversations give birth to actions that can change lives and restore our faith in the future. There is no more powerful way to initiate significant social change than to start a conversation. When a group of people discover that they share a common concern, that's when the process of change begins.
Anytime we think the problem is 'out there,' that thought is the problem. We empower what's out there to control us. The change paradigm is 'outside-in' - what's out there has to change before we can change. The proactive approach is to change from the 'inside-out': to be different, and by being different, to effect positive change in what's out there - I can be more resourceful, I can be more diligent, I can be more creative, I can be more cooperative.
The imagination made us human, but being human, becoming more human, is a greater burden than we imagined. We have no choice but to imagine ourselves more human than we are.
For decades, Colombia has been accused of being the world's principal provider of cocaine. If this comes to an end, it would be a dramatic change for our country - which has been suffering more than any other from the consequences of drug-trafficking.
I am a woman, a mother, a daughter, a friend, a human being as any other human. I just happen to write songs and perform them, and I am lucky to be able to make a living with my music. Other than that, I smile, laugh, and cry, like any other woman.
Any time there's significant change, there's going to be some people who embrace the change and others who are against the change.
Raising boys has made me a more generous woman than I really am. Undoubtedly, there are other routes to learning the wishes and dreams of the presumably opposite sex, but I know of none more direct, or more highly motivating, than being the mother of sons.
I don't kid myself in thinking that I'm on the front lines. I know the people who are on the front lines. I mean there are people in some freakin' significant places making on-the-ground social front line change. I've marched. I've put feet on the ground for what I believe and what I'm against with no compromise. And there are people who are risking a whole hell of a lot more than me to make change, that's for damn sure.
You can make change or it can make YOU. Change is to keep us on our toes. Change is to make us look more closely. What doesn't change are the arms you use to hug with. Those stay the same.
Being lean doesn't make you any more worthy, any more beautiful or any more valuable. It doesn't make you a more fit person, it doesn't mean you've worked harder in the gym, people who are leaner than you aren't better than you.
I know men and women. An honourable man is an honourable man, and a liar is a liar; both are born and not made. One cannot change to the other any more than that same old leopard can change its spots. After a man tells a woman the first untruth of that sort, the others come piling thick, fast, and mountain high.
We don't need more Hindus, more Christians, or more Muslims - we need more Buddhas, more Jesuses, and more Krishnas - then there will be true change. Every human being has that inner potential.
It's more important than ever to define yourself in terms of what you stand for rather than what you make, because what you make is going to become outmoded faster than it has at any time in the past. ...hang on to the idea of who you are as a company, and focus not on what you do, but on what you could do. By being really clear about what you stand for and why you exist, you can see what you could do with a much more open mind. You enhance your ability to adapt to change.
It takes more than a few generations to change a human nation. Those who are intent to bring (change) will do so.