How One Woman Changes the World

Shortly before I graduated from high school, I was talking to one of the counselors there. I told her that I was just terrified about the prospects of me going out into the world because it looked like I wasn't going to be able to make all the big, huge changes that I thought I was going to have to make to be a worthwhile person. She told me that the point wasn't that I go change the world, but that I am a productive, informed person who does a good job in my own field. If I do that and encourage others to do that, THAT'S how you change the world.

This datum made sense to me, and went a long way in me feeling like if I wanted to be a dairy farmer or policeman that they were equally valid paths, as long as I did my part to set an example.

However, as time goes on, you hear about other people and how they build a company and are a millionaire before age 21. Or how someone builds hundreds of schools all over the world and is personally responsible for the literacy of millions. At those times, I feel inadequate as a person who is merely being a photographer. My intentions in my profession are very honorable, just not directly changing the lives of millions.

And then, as I was going to get my daughter up from her nap this afternoon, I realized something.

I was affecting a change in this world in a big way. I am a loving and a caring mom. I spend time every day to teach my daughter how to read even though she is only 4 months old. I have taken the measures to ensure that she isn't getting vaccines that are full of poison that do way more harm than good. I feed her when she wants. I comfort her tears. I take the time to explain to her whatever object she happens to be the most interested in at the time.

Many moms put their children in daycare. Though I can understand the need for that, it is hard to imagine the direct result that this has on the life of that child.

My bond and my decisions with my little girl are, in this very moment changing the world. I may not be working with millions to affect great change, but I am working with one, on an intense basis, so that she may go out and create her own change.

This doesn't make me feel small at all. The love that you give to a child is the best love of all, because if you have been diligent in sticking to their needs, they appreciate it.

So I am changing the world, in a big way, and I'm doing it one smile at a time.