Last month in The O magazine, Oprah interviewed Sir Richard Branson. He is rather an amazing individual - a risk taker who dropped out of school at 16 to start a magazine and has never looked back. He is a dreamer and an action taker. He began Virgin Records, Virgin Airlines and is building a spaceship and a launch site in New Mexico that will take him and his family into outer space!! He knows what he wants and goes after it. He has always been encouraged by his family and believes that he can make a difference.
Now he and Peter Gabriel have cofounded The Elders, a group of 12 outstanding former presidents, ambassadors, and Nobel Prize winners- a team of conflict mediators who will work for World Peace. You might recognize some of their names: Jimmy Carter, Nelson Mandela, Kofi Annan or Ela Bhatt.
In the same issue, there is an article, The Gift of Peace: The Next Generation - the children of some of our former civil rights leaders and champions of social justice - Martin Luther King III and Kerry Kennedy, among others. They too are world changers.
Reflecting on the issue of world peace, I think of ALL OF US as world changers and leaders who can influence the direction our world must take for peace, communication and love. Though we are not world leaders on a grand scale, WE TOO ARE LEADERS. People remember how we treat them, what we say, and how we make them feel. Every day we can "catch people doing something right" and make them feel valuable. In this respect, we too are world changers!
Richard Branson talks about "his company being its people. His companies are run on the basis of praising workers and looking for the best in them, not criticizing them. In the same way that you water a plant and it sprouts leaves, people florish when you praise them." Praising individuals and having them grow and flourish is our mission with DARE to AFFIRM.
Today my husband, Bill praised someone and made a change in the world. He was at a local service station and the woman pumping gas smiled at him and wished him a Happy New Year. He thanked her and told her what a great smile she had. He said she just beamed when he said that. He made a difference in her life...and she will remember him when he comes back because of how he made her feel.
If WE can impact these changes at our grass roots level...and the Elders and the Next Generationnworld changers can make a difference at their level, consider that we will have a strong influence at the top and at the bottom - and just maybe, we will meet in the middle and realize how much of a difference we have all made TOGETHER.
Now he and Peter Gabriel have cofounded The Elders, a group of 12 outstanding former presidents, ambassadors, and Nobel Prize winners- a team of conflict mediators who will work for World Peace. You might recognize some of their names: Jimmy Carter, Nelson Mandela, Kofi Annan or Ela Bhatt.
In the same issue, there is an article, The Gift of Peace: The Next Generation - the children of some of our former civil rights leaders and champions of social justice - Martin Luther King III and Kerry Kennedy, among others. They too are world changers.
Reflecting on the issue of world peace, I think of ALL OF US as world changers and leaders who can influence the direction our world must take for peace, communication and love. Though we are not world leaders on a grand scale, WE TOO ARE LEADERS. People remember how we treat them, what we say, and how we make them feel. Every day we can "catch people doing something right" and make them feel valuable. In this respect, we too are world changers!
Richard Branson talks about "his company being its people. His companies are run on the basis of praising workers and looking for the best in them, not criticizing them. In the same way that you water a plant and it sprouts leaves, people florish when you praise them." Praising individuals and having them grow and flourish is our mission with DARE to AFFIRM.
Today my husband, Bill praised someone and made a change in the world. He was at a local service station and the woman pumping gas smiled at him and wished him a Happy New Year. He thanked her and told her what a great smile she had. He said she just beamed when he said that. He made a difference in her life...and she will remember him when he comes back because of how he made her feel.
If WE can impact these changes at our grass roots level...and the Elders and the Next Generationnworld changers can make a difference at their level, consider that we will have a strong influence at the top and at the bottom - and just maybe, we will meet in the middle and realize how much of a difference we have all made TOGETHER.
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