Being Influential...

This week, Mrs. Penny Walker shared a story about the junior youth spiritual empowerment program that really touched my heart. I'll do my best to summarize. In the Baha'i Faith there is a program for 12-15 year olds where they can form moral identities, consult, and take social action. I will make up some names so that the story Mrs. Walker shared will not be confusing.

A youth named Mona wrote conveying that one of her junior youth, Carina, told her that she had to write an essay about the "most influential person I know" and that she wanted to write the paper about Mona. (Many of us might remember a similar paper from our grade-school years.) At first Mona thought Carina may have been kidding, but Carina went on to read her the criteria. Carina had to write about someone who was strong in his or her beliefs and committed to making the world a better place. Carina said that many of her classmates were writing about people like Ghandi and Martin Luther King Jr, and Carina believes that they picked these people because they didn't know anyone who was trying to make the world a better place, at least they didn't know them personally. Carina was excited to receive the assignment because she knew that she had the perfect person in mind.

THOUGHTS:  What comes to mind when we think of influence and how do we qualify "making the world a better place"? I have often had conversations with people who give "influence" a negative connotation and that is reasonable based on past oppressions and the use of influence to overpower instead of empower. However, influence is a basic part of our existence. There is no doubt that our environment influences who we are, and instead of fighting against this, we might do better to change our environment so that all might be influenced in a more positive or pleasing way. Now, the idea of making the world a better place. I think it means thinking about the progress of the whole instead of the individual. This is very difficult in societies where culture leans toward individual triumphs. Making the world a better place does not mean that we cannot have individual initiative, but that all of our efforts are focused on empowering the whole. Dr. Javaheri gave a wonderful example with the role of kings. He asked, what if kings saw themselves as divinely ordained to be of service to the world? Would monarchies have the same issues of oppression?

SPIRIT: Some quotes from different religions that I believe correlate well with this theme.

• Strive constantly to serve the welfare of the world; by devotion to selfless work one attains the supreme goal of life. Do your work with the welfare of others always in mind. Krishna 

• Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Buddha

• Do you understand what I have done for you....You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Jesus

• Every age hath its own problem, and every soul its particular aspiration. The remedy the world needeth in its present-day afflictions can never be the same as that which a subsequent age may require. Be anxiously concerned with the needs of the age ye live in, and center your deliberations on its exigencies and requirements. Baha'u'llah 

ACTION: In terms of being influential, I have been deepening my understanding that the spirit in which we live is higher than the deeds that we do. A wise co-worker in one of my jobs said when you change a baby's diaper and it poops again, changing the diaper was "not for nothing". Changing the diaper kept the baby from getting uncomfortable and prevented disease, what happens next does not devalue what you have done. My Faith encourages us that "work done in the spirit of service is the highest form of worship." If we choose jobs that are of service to mankind, even if we do nothing else, we have been of service often 40 hours a week. There is a lot of elaboration that can be given on this theme but I would like to ensure that I don't mean only jobs like teaching, social work, and firefighting are service. There are opportunities in almost every field, if we return to the spirit in which we work. If you are a lawyer, it may be what kind of law you study or cases you defend, an artist may ask what qualities your art promotes, a businessperson might ask if your products appeal to man's lower or higher nature. In this mindfulness, we can be an example to others and a teacher that they can be empowered to serve through their own capabilities.