The Strive4impact Philosophy

I have been raised to believe that I can be whatever I want to be.

Growing up, I was always told that I could do whatever I wanted to do, and become whatever I wanted to become in life. This is because I was given the tools from a very young age to try to view the world around me with open eyes and an open heart. When I was in 7th grade, I saw a movie called The Power of One. For many reasons, the movie really acted as a fuel to a fire that I had; A strong desire to make the world a better place, and a belief that I could do it.

I have been disappointed in many ways over the past many years by people's apathy, including my own. However, that has been equally matched, and very often surpassed, by the overwhelming feeling of knowing that I know hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people who are really doing things to make the world better.

I believe I can change the world, now that I'm getting older and better! What I have learned is that I'm not going to be able to change things alone. We're all, globally, going to need to come to an understanding that the human heart is the same around the world, and when we learn to stop focusing so much on this idea that it's somehow 'them versus us', as individuals, as groups, as religions, as races, and as countries, we will learn how truly similar we are. This will allow us to celebrate our differences, and work towards a more common, peaceful, and practical future.

Do I think this will be easy? No. Do I think it's possible? Absolutely! We're already seeing it. Unfortunately, it's often coming at the expense of other cultures giving up their ideas to American pop culture, but you can read more about that elsewhere on this Strive4impact.com.

Call me an idealist, call me a hopeful, call me a dreamer. I thank you for all these compliments. Idealists, dreamers, and hopefuls are those who have made the innovations which have changed the world. Imagine if someone had never idealized that the world could be round; imagine if Thomas Edison had never dreamed of such a thing as a light bulb; imagine if Orville and Wilbur Wright never hoped that they could learn to build a machine that would fly. We would not be anywhere without hopefuls, idealists, and dreamers. There are those who would argue that warriors and economists change the world, but a warrior has no weapons, if someone hasn't first thought of them, and people have nothing to buy, sell or trade without dreamers who create. Therefore, economies do not exist without the innovations of dreamers.

Tell me it's impossible to change the world, and you provide me more motivation. Tell me it will never happen, and I'll tell you a story about a man working in the U.S. Office of Patents who in 1897 said, "everything worthwhile that can be invented has already been invented." (No cars, no phone system, no Internet, no email, no microwave, no television, little understanding of electricity, no radio.) Basically, everything we consider to be important to our mainstream lives in America, he apparently considered to be not worthwhile a little over only 100 years ago.

I get discouraged along the way, and that's part of why the Strive4impact philosophy is something that I carry with me. I'm tired of getting discouraged by people telling me that change isn't possible, so I hope to hear from you who are doing good things, who are making positive change in this world a reality.

The other main reason for the strive4impact philosophy is an attempt to combat peoples' apathy, and to inspire and inform those who are looking for some way to make a positive difference, but don't know where to start.