We all wish to change and save the world, but somewhere along the way most of us long our energy and vigor to actually make a change. None of us are too small to make a difference; at times all we need is a little inspiration to go that extra mile. For many of us, there is always that one person who sets an example and shows us that change is possible. They do not tell us how they want us to change. They do not nag us to do something in a certain way. Instead, they set a stage where we get to experience the possibility of change. Similarly, if we want to inspire change, we must first become the best versions of ourselves and people around us, whom we want to change. An individual can certainly inspire change in the world by setting the right example, by showing that change can take place.
Our environment influences us in more ways that we realize. The environment can influence our behavior, our perceptions, our views, and a lot more. The environment influences how we live and how our society develops. The environment can also discourage us from interacting with one another, and an example of this can be found in Roscoe Thorne’s Gays, The Military And My Son. The environment does not necessarily just constitute our surroundings, but also the people surrounding us. Roscoe Thorne himself admits that his changing environments and the different people surrounding him trained him to become the person that he was. Everyone, including his mother, people at his school, his college, and even in the United States Army trained him to be prejudiced. So it is true that our environment and the people can influence us, just as Thorne had been trained to be prejudiced towards black people.
The question is: Can we change our behavior, our perceptions and our views that that we have developed because of the environment and the people surrounding us since we were kids. Again, the answer lies within Thorne’s article. Roscoe’s prejudice dissipates when his own son Tracy, who discloses that he is homosexual, from the United States Navy as a result of the same prejudiced perceptions that Roscoe had been trained to developed. However, homosexual or not, Tracy must have indeed been a great a splendid individual, who valiantly served his country as Roscoe admits, and so his son inspires him into giving up the prejudice he had clung to for so long because of the environment he grew up in and the people who trained him to be that way. Thus, the right kind of inspiration that shows us the other side of the picture can help us make real progress toward change.
As Abbie Hoffman writes in The Future Is Yours (Still), that everywhere in the world, there tend to be people who firmly believe that expecting things to change is a waste of time. Indeed, in this day and age, this is what the environment we are living in has influenced us, especially our young generation, into believing. Like Hoffman’s children, our environment has influenced us into thinking that believing in hope is just too odd. We are indeed hopeless people, living in hopeless times because like Roscoe, like Hoffman’s children and many people around us today, this is how our environment has shaped us to be. However, again, this does not mean that change cannot occur. As Hoffman quotes Thomas Paine, all we need is the freedom to act for ourselves. The lack of hope we are suffering from is due to the lack of inspiration and inspiration can liberate us to act for ourselves and progress toward change.
Referring to the district court trial that his article centers on, Hoffman in his own way alludes to the change that inspiration can bring. As he writes that a not guilty verdict is the inspiration that Hoffman and the rest of the eleven young protestors need to be hopeful, to participate, to take a step and make a change for their future. Ultimately, they are acquitted and get the inspiration they needed not to give up hope. This is an example of how we can inspired and be inspired, and how the right kind of inspiration can show us the possibility of change exists, all we need to do is participate and not give up hope. No matter how hopeless our environment has made us, no matter what our environment has led us to believe, the right kind of inspiration can ignite that spark that gives us the strength to change the environment that has been influencing us.
Malcolm X is frequently referred to as among the most coherent and fluent African American civil rights activists. Ironically, prior to becoming the renowned civil rights activist that he was, Malcolm X was illiterate and it was inspiration that drove him to self teach himself in prison. It was Elijah Muhammad, X’s spiritual leader, provoked him to diligently to self teach himself in order to write letters to Muhammad. This is another example of how the inspiration of an individual can prove to be a strong motivating force. This is an example of how an individual can motivate us to do things others may not believe to be possible. If Malcolm X could self educate himself and progress toward fighting for civil and human rights, then each one of us have it in ourselves bring about change, do the impossible, the only thing that is lacking is the sort of inspiration that Malcolm X had.
The above evidences certainly suggest that inspiration can make us abandon our age old perceptions, can bring back our lost hope, can motivate us to achieve the unachievable, and can indeed lead us toward change. However, a person, and even the right environment can inspire us to change the person who we are. In his novel, “True Notebooks,” Mark Salzman begins by writing about how he could not find his muse due to the lack of inspiration. However, the ‘true’ example of inspiration that Salzman sets in this novel is when he crosses the boundary Juvenile Hall and becomes a true inspiration to those young boys. If the inspiration of one man can change how those young boys, who have committed criminal and delinquent acts, viewed the world around and change their personalities, then we all are capable of being inspired. All we need is the right person to come along inspire us to change.
Personally, there have been many instances where life got tough and I needed a little something to keep me going, and that little something turned out to be just a little inspiration, whether it was from my parents, my friends or my teachers. Many times the lack of inspiration has made me feel as if I am too disorganized, insecure or just too lazy to achieve success in life. However, when inspiration came, it was like a bolt of lightning that got me going and I never once thought about stopping. They say, if you do not like something you should change it, but if you cannot change it, then you should change your thinking. I believe that is what inspiration helps us do and has helped me do. I believe that the people who have inspired me helped me change the way I used to think about things and that is how I managed to change myself into a better person.
The above examples certainly prove that an individual can indeed inspire change in the world and that people can change the environment in which they live in, all they need is inspiration to take a stand to make that change. However, the above examples also reveal the most effective method of inspiring change. In all of the above four cases, Roscoe’s son who inspired him, the verdict that inspired Hoffman and the other protestors, Elijah Muhammad who inspired Malcolm X and Mark Salzman who inspired those young boys did not tell them how they wanted them to change. The people who inspired them did not nag to do the things that they did. The reason those individuals managed to effectively inspire others was because they themselves set hopeful and positive examples that showed that the possibility of change is real. An individual can certainly inspire another, but to do that effectively, he or she must set a good example first.
Works Cited
"Reading selection: “Learning to Read” excerpt from The Autobiography of Malcolm X." San Mateo County Community College District. San Mateo County Community College District. Web. 20 May 2013. <http://www.smccd.net/accounts/bellr/ReaderLearningtoRead.htm>.
Hoffman, Abbie. "The Future Is Yours (Still)." (1993). Print.
Salzman, Mark. True Notebooks, A Writer's Year At Juvenile Hall. Vintage, 2006. Print.
Thorne, Roscoe. "Gays, The Military And My Son."Harper's Magazine. 286.1715 (1993): 17. Print.
