"Be the change you want to see in the world"
I don't really know why, but something about the above quotation really gets to me. Maybe cuz it's being misused and abused; I've seen it on the most random of people's pages, listed as their "favorite" quotes - when really those people wouldn't even think of changing their local supermarket, let alone a whole WORLD.
It really frustrates me when people pick out random quotes by famous writers of great literature like Shakespeare, Wilde, and Dickens or random sayings by Einstein so they could pass off as educated and cultured. I read this sentence somewhere a few days ago, and it put a lot of things in the spotlight for me, "Fake smiles and pretending to be happy doesn't really make you happy, and pretending to be smart doesn't really make you smart."
Why is it that when someone declares that Shakespeare's words evoked them or exclaims that Van Gogh's brush strokes moved them you automatically and subconsciously categorize that person under "educated"? What is education? What does it mean for you to be "educated" and "cultured"? Would I be considered dumb if I'm not familiar with Picasso? Would I still be considered ignorant even though I admire the literary works of Nizar Qabani or poetry by Nimer bin Adwan? It's sad how next to writers like Shakespeare and Bernard Shaw, they're complete nobodies, but I would definitely crown them the kings of literature in the Arab world.
I'm not sure how this post came down to this, but I think what I'm trying to say is that change doesn't come easy, even though it's wanted by many. I mean, you don't see homeless people in the streets holding up signs that read "WANTED: $100"... but what you hear is ... "Got change?"
