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THE POWER TO CHANGE THE WORLD
Kathlyn Q. Barrozo
Class of 1991, University of Santo Tomas
B.S. Medical Technology
Each and every one of us has the ultimate power to change the world. No matter what our roles in life may be,
we have been inherently endowed with a specific opportunity to somehow change the world we live in. It is
therefore upon us to find that certain purpose that has been given to us from the beginning.
Most of us go about our daily lives like we normally do. We might be the housewife holding up half of our
family’s world. We might be the husband trying to earn a living for the entire family. We might be the teacher
always trying to impart something new and useful to our students. We might be the world leader doing his best
to run a country as it should be. No matter what we do everyday, our roles have a place in this world which no
one can ever belittle.
We perform our roles governed by both passion and inspiration. There can not be one without the other.
Burning passion without inspiration falls flat. Those who have much passion with no sense of inspiration are
bound to fail.
Inspiration imbues passion with meaning. Imagine an artist who loves to paint. If he just indulges in his craft
because he loves it, what good is there in that? Will he be able to create masterpieces that have meaning in
themselves? He’d simply be wasting time and effort, not to mention paint and canvas, creating things which
would be deemed worthless because of their sheer emptiness of meaning.
Inspiration imbues feeling to what we do. Adolf Hitler was all hatred for Jews, and he relentlessly pursued to
eradicate them from the face of the earth. Fortunately, he never succeeded despite the fact that he massacred
thousands during his reign of terror. If one so devoid of compassion for his fellowman could go about such
carnage, imagine what the worst kind of unfeeling individual could do to the world. We could have another
anti-Christ if such a person would ever exist, God forbid.
Inspiration should always drive us towards the greater good. Misplaced and misguided inspiration greatly
disappoints, and the disappointment is often multi-pronged. There are those who follow a certain teaching
because they feel strongly that it inspires them in a multitude of ways not easily understandable to others. But
remember that when the world says something is wrong, and when there is a nagging feeling that you also
have about what you’re doing, it most probably is wrong.
In the end, everything we do should be guided by a purpose, an inspiration. And this inspiration, fueled by the
strength of passion, must always lead us to become a better person.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION:
1. Why is it inadvisable to have passion without inspiration?
2. Differentiate passion from inspiration.
3. Do you live life in an inspired and passionate way? How?
4. Do you know of anyone else, aside from Hitler, who was inspired in the wrong ways?
5. What happens when people lose inspiration in life?