"Just a Little Change"

Though I cannot speak for anyone but myself, I feel it is probably safe to say that many people in the world are looking for a purpose, a purpose wherein they are able to make a difference. If you are in the business of asking people what they want to do when they grow up, most of the time they'll say, "I want to help people" or "I want to make a difference." When President Obama was running for the presidency in 2008, his entire campaign was based on the idea of change.

The question then, I think, is not do we want to make a difference; of course it isn't. We want to feel like our lives have not been lived without some consequence for the better. We want "to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life" by "putting to rout all that is not life" and "[living] deliberately" (from Henry David Thoreau's Walden) through positive action and change. The question, rather, is how do we intend to do it? It's easy enough to say you want to change the world; it's quite another to do it. So, once again, how do you intend to bring about this change, this difference, in the society we live in today?

Let me be laconic.

Words.

I know there are many out there who say that actions speak louder than words, and I think they're right in most cases. However, that does not mean that we allow our voices to atrophy through lack of use just because it does not have the volume that actions do. If you have something to say that can improve yourself, the people around you, or the world in general, you have to say it. Don't wait until you can think of an action to amplify your thought; just let out the message and someone will hear it. Think how the world would be if the people who uttered the following words had sewed his or her lips shut and never said a thing.

"I have a dream." ~Martin Luther King

"...all men are created equal."~Thomas Jefferson

"What's up, doc?"~Bugs Bunny

"All I wanted was to get home from work."~Rosa Parks

"That's all folks!"~Johnny Carson

"You'll have plenty of time to live in a van down by the river when you're...living in a van down by the river."~Chris Farley

"If you're a young Mafia gangster out on your first date, I bet it's real embarassing if someone tries to kill you."~Jack Handy

"One small step for man...one giant leap for mankind."~Neal Armstrong

"Now I want you to remember that no b------ ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor b------ die for his country."~General George S. Patton

"Just beat it!"~Michael Jackson

"I invented the piano-key necktie!"~Will Ferrell in Zoolander

"I give her a hundred! A hundred!"~Will Ferrell in Bewitched

"I'm a cotton-headed ninny-muggins."~Will Ferrell in Elf

"Baby, baby, baby, oh, baby, baby, baby."~Justin Bieber

"Give me your tired, your poor."~The Statue of Liberty

"They may take our lives, but they'll never take our freedom!"~Mel Gibson in Braveheart

"Strange things are afoot at the Circle-K."~Keanu Reeves in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure

"That's what she said." Steve Carell in The Office

"We are the champions."~Freddy Mercury

"Can't we all just get along?"~Rodney King

"As a karate expert I will not talk about anyone up here because our children can't afford to live anywhere. Nowhere. There's nowhere to go. And once again: why? You said it: 'Cuz the rent is too d--- high."~Jimmy McMillan during the 2010 New York Governor debate

"It depends on what the meaning of word is is."~Bill Clinton

"One of the things I have used on The Google is to pull up maps."~George W. Bush

"Frankly, my dear, I don't give a d---."~Clark Gable on Gone with the Wind

"I pity the fool!"~Mr. T.

"Don't stop believin'."~Steve Perry

"Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so unto them."~Jesus Christ

So, where would the world be if none of these people had opened their mouths and spoken? Who knows? Allowing the society which encompasses you to hear your voice and judge your words can be rather intimidating; nevertheless, everyone has a message, whether it is profound or superfluous, and the only way to see if you can make a difference in the world is to let your message out.