YOU CAN CHANGE THE WORLD

Marion Pellicano Ambrose

Who hasn’t dreamed of growing up to be Superman, President of the United States, even Mother Teresa? We all want to make a difference, to save the world, to leap buildings in a single bound! But the truth is, it’s probably not going to happen! Here we are, 40 something years into life and not one world crisis solved or one life changed because of what we’ve done! Right?...............Wrong!

  

  The problem with our childhood dreams is that they are so huge! Yes, there are large as life heroes and saints among us, but we have the potential to affect change, growth and salvation too! It’s in the little things we do each day. The smile you give your child when you drop him off at school can change his whole perspective on his day. The “good job” you lightly share with a coworker may be just the motivation to move forward. The point is, we may never know what superhero effect we have on the lives of others!

   

  I taught music and gave guitar lessons to elementary school students while I was working my way through college. Years later, I went back to Brooklyn to visit the school and found that one student had been trying to find me. She was studying at Julliard on a full scholarship for music. She said I was the first one to ever tell her she had talent and that made her determined to succeed. Such a little comment and yet it made a difference!

    

  Recently I was fortunate enough to be honored for my years of teaching and serving as an Assistant Principal. My former principals spoke, there was a beautiful slide show of all the programs, curriculum and policy I initiated, and there were wonderful letters from parents of children I had taught. It was an amazing, joyful celebration, but the thing that meant more to me than anything else, was the testimonial that was made by a former student. She was in my 8^th grade class many years ago. She has since earned a degree in elementary education and special education, has become an outstanding teacher, an awesome mom of 3 and a loving, treasured wife. She also happens to be the president of our Home and School Association! A true Wonder Woman! She credited me with all her success! She claimed that I was her role model and inspiration. I have no earthly idea why! She’s a highly intelligent, motivated woman with great charisma and superb instincts! I can’t think of one thing I might have done to inspire such an enigma! All I did was love her and do my best to give her a good education!

    

  So you see, you can never say, “I don’t make a difference.” You may be the one to inspire the next Gandhi or Martin Luther King Junior!  You can change the world, maybe you already have!