For a long time now I have thought that the world I grew up
doesn’t exist anymore. I might be naïve, but I miss those simpler times and the
security that I grew up with. Everything really bad that I can remember ever
happening in my childhood happened far away. That was the beauty of growing up
in a small town in Ontario Canada. Nothing really ever happened. Murders,
suicides and every other terrible thing was a news report. There were a few
accidents that killed people, but I think that most people I knew that died, in
my childhood, were from a disease or old age. I look back at it now and think
how great my childhood was.
I am 43 and oh how the world has changed. Murders, suicides
and many other crimes happen not only a lot more in my country, but also in my
city. In a lot of ways, I don’t like this modern world and the things that I
hear are happening around me. I have been more or less a hypocrite and coward
about it because I give a few bucks to a homeless man or complain about it, but
I don’t really do anything to help or change it.
The truth is, I believe that we live in a beautiful world
where anything is possible. I am proof of it in my way. No I am not that
playboy billionaire who runs around at night saving people, but I am something
those I grew up with never thought I would be. I was the first male member of
my family to go to college, I have never been in trouble with the law, am
considered successful career wise and I followed my dreams. These things might
not make you think, ‘wow this guy is amazing’, but it has taken me a lifetime
of hard work to get here.
I truly believe though that if we look past race, creed,
color, religion, nationality and all these other things our world and its
population make up a beautiful and special thing. Maybe it’s just the optimist
in me, but I think as much as people are our world’s biggest problem, it can
also be the thing that makes it special. I have traveled to a lot of countries
and met countless people in my travels. The greatest thing I have learned is
that no matter where people come from or what they believe, people are people.
I can always find a commonality in them and differences. Sometimes the
differences are the most amazing part and others a commonality built on a different
outlook can literally be absolutely mind blowing.
Sometime ago I read about this teenager that committed
suicide and thought that it was such a great waste. No I didn’t know her, but
she was still a young and unique person. We all are in our own way. I read
about her story and in my mind this girl needed that world I grew up in that
doesn’t exist anymore. I thought then and still believe that one person could
have changed and saved that young girls life. The biggest problem in my eyes is
who is that one person. The idea of “One” came to me. One person can’t fix the
world, but one person at a time can.
The idea that if we all give a little of ourselves, we can
make the world a better place and probably new or mind blowing, but I think
that if we can take a little more interest in the world around us those around
us might not feel alone. I am not naïve enough to think it will be the cause of
world peace, but I do think that we can benefit from it as well as those around
us. What if just making someone smile on the bus makes their day a little
brighter or telling someone that they have beautiful smile pushes back somebody
else’s negative statement. The idea that we can change the world bit by bit,
one person at a time, can be stronger. Something even more exciting is that we
might meet an amazing person that we otherwise might not have ever met.
Now I have had this inspiration to write books based on a
theme of something I don’t like about the world. I always have lots of
inspiration and there’s never a shortage of things I would like to fix about
the world. I don’t want to famous or rich from it, but I would like to think
that if I give it away, one person might find inspiration from it or might not
feel so alone. I had the idea, but never acted on it. I told myself that I was
nobody and such an idea needed someone famous or rich to benefit the world. The
idea didn’t leave though. Every year I join NaNoWriMo to see if I am up to the
challenge. When the book is written I don’t do anything with it. It’s just a
challenge for someone that likes challenges. This year I decided to write
something meaningful and just give it to the world for free with the hopes that
one person some where reads it and sees that possibility that their world can
be better.
Starting November 1st I will be releasing a book
every year called “The one collection”. The first book is called “Desperate
Measures,” chapter by chapter for free hoping that one person who needs to read
it finds it. This book will be based on teenage suicide and bullying. I don’t
know if I can change the world, but I don’t want to look back and say the world
I grew up in doesn’t exist anymore. I want to share it with the hopes I can
help somebody else see that it does still exist we just need to search for it
or build it.
