Session 10

Classes officially came to an end today and I feel that a very fitting question that we should try to answer so that we can take away something positive from this course is perhaps how can we come up with new an innovative ways to bring about change in this world? The key I feel is to be an open book. As Melinda Gates so perfectly put it, we have to learn from innovators from every sector. We have to adapt to changes as quickly as possible to that our vision of the future is not outdated and in these exponential times, it’s quite a challenge.

Jerry Lewis’ presentation today talked about the possible steps to eradicate poverty. While I still hold an air of skepticism, I don’t doubt people’s ability to reduce poverty. We live in a giving and charitable society. Once we experience giving and the way it makes us feel, we tend to carry on that trend because of the satisfaction it gives us. That’s what we need. We need people to take initiatives rather then the dependence on organizations as a whole. Look at Kiva.com. All it took was one visionary woman to make that change. She saw that it wasn’t money perse that these people were looking for but rather help. They wanted help so that in turn they can learn to help themselves. Sometimes we doubt the ability of people to be independent and that can be catastrophic. When we forget people can learn to be independent, we look to big organizations to solve the problem because we assume that people in poverty are looking for someone to depend on permanently rather then to learn from in the hopes that one day they can do it themselves.

My favorite quote of the whole course came today. “We should work back from the future rather then work from present to future”. It has totally changed my perception on life and how we should live it. It’s not a new concept. We’ve all heard it before for example, “begin with the end in mind”. However I suppose I took it for granted. I realize working back from the future allows you to constantly work at achieving your goals rather working to achieve your goals and that can make all the difference.

Overall, this course has thought me to not be burdened by barriers but be motivated by opportunities to make a difference in the world for we are not truly privileged until we have made a difference in the lives of people.