Within each of us lies something that, if we let it, will change the world. We have seen its effects large-scale in the form of important names in history. Osama bin Laden, Mother Theresa, Joseph Stalin, Martin Luther King, Jr., Adolf Hitler, Alexander the Great, Ghandi, Nelson Mandela, William Shakespeare, and Jesus of Nazareth all have/had it in common. You and I have the beginnings of it, but usually we reason and devise excuses why we shouldn’t do anything with it.

Initiative? Drive? Courage? Potential? Vision?

We have dabbled and toyed and played with these ideas, but at the end of the day, we cling to safety. We continue in the same patterns of life, dreaming and thinking big thoughts about how we are making a difference and what we’ll start on when we get more time. We blog and tweet and Facebook, but we don’t really do anything about it. 

That is the difference between those names and my name. Notice that I didn’t list any organizations, empires, or governments. This is intentional. Everyone expects large groups of people to make a difference. But what about when it’s a single, solitary person? What is the difference between them and me? They have it: the will to execute. The passion to see their vision carried out. They didn’t sit around and wait for someone else to make it happen. They executed. They “shipped.” Your mind has probably thrown up a red flag at this point and you are incensed that I have lumped these names together. But stop and think for just a second. Am I wrong in this? Early on, Hitler wrote out a manifesto of what he would like to see in the world. Then he made it a reality. Ghandi observed the suffering and injustice in India and, dropping everything, devoted his life to changing it; and he did. Think about what would have been different if others in history had the drive and will to execute as those names. Now consider the ripples that each of those names have left, good and bad.

The question for each of us, then, is will we execute on the dreams and ideas that we have? Will we bend history to our will? Or will we continue to hope that someone else will do it? 

Who else will turn the teachers lounge into a sanctuary, rescuing it from its current state of “toxic waste dump?” Who else will empower and embolden today’s students to ask tough questions? Who else will fix today’s broken systems? Who else will call out injustice where they see it? Who else will change your community? Who else will ensure that little girl can read? Who else?

It’s time to move from “it’s not my job” to “I will.”

Go and do.