Blake Mycoskie, the creator of the rapidly growing TOMS movement has just written a book, “Start Something That Matters.” This book inspired me, and the concept should
inspire you, too. Apart from this guy being totally adorable, he gives back. He has dedicated his life to doing something that matters. When I look at what I want to be when I grow up, (and yes, you still have time to think about it) I cannot imagine doing something that doesn’t make a difference in some way.
Maybe you want to work in advertising, or maybe you want to write about fashion. It doesn’t matter. But in everything that you do, remember that you CAN and will make a difference in this world if you want to.
It seems like a lot of people today live under a consumer umbrella. I am guilty of it too, very guilty. It is really hard to pretend you don’t care when Justin Bieber might have had a baby, its BIG news. When you feel like you might be suffering from “first world syndrome,” just
remember that we are not alone on this globe. We are united as human beings. If anything can be taken from our current events in the past few weeks, it is that we have to unite, as one human race.
The global recession has spread from our home here in the United States to the far corners of Europe, where the G20 summit finds challenges in developing a remedy to the many issues in the global financial market. It goes without saying that international leaders want to strive for cooperation, but a new focus also calls for a “balanced membership” between developed and developing countries. This concept of a global world order will be more accessible if international leaders truly utilize this idea.
These leaders have to make a difference, they have no choice. It troubles me as a young person, looking into the future, when we have no stability in our financial markets. There are no such leaders as President John F. Kennedy, Franklin Delano Roosevelt or Prime Minister Winston Churchill to drag us from the depths. We have to bring people into global leadership positions that will change the world.
I leave you now, with the words of the late Steve Jobs: A true representation of our generation, and an example of the innovation that one person in this world is capable of constructing.
“We don’t get a chance to do that many things, and every (thing) should be really excellent. Because this is our life. Life is brief, and then you die, you know? And we’ve all chosen to do this with our lives. So it better be [..] good. It better be worth it.”