With all the current sadness in the world it’s hard to keep a positive mindset, it’s hard to be happy when all around us we see sorrow and anger from the barbaric events that seem to be occurring far too regularly. But, it’s at times like this we need hope: if we give in to hate then we have already lost. Fighting violence with violence only brings more violence. How can this be good for anyone? Don’t get me wrong, I’m no pacifist, if I need to fight to defend myself I’m more than capable of doing so, but I am also a humanist and I believe that all life is sacred – every human, every animal, every insect, every plant, every fish, every living microbe that lives on planet earth deserves its chance of living a full life. We are all connected, it’s a fact, we need one another to survive. I’m human; I get angry, I have said and done things I regret but I have learned to forgive not only other people, but myself for being unreasonable or pigheaded. Admitting we are wrong or ill-informed isn’t a show of weakness, it’s a show of strength; it shows we have the ability to adapt and become a better person. I’m not perfect and I realise nobody else is, and we all need to wake up to that fact we all make mistakes. It’s how we react or don’t react to the situations that define who we eventually become. There are bad people in this world who simply want us to be like them and live with hate and anger, but we have a choice, we get to choose our paths in life, although so many of us get lost, misguided: we end up following someone else’s path. Life isn’t easy but there is hope. We need a revolution on this planet. Not one of guns and bombs, but one of minds, and it begins with you and me. We don’t have to have great knowledge to know right from wrong or good from bad, they are simply concepts. The teachings of mindfulness in education instead of religious divide can free us of the biased misunderstanding of all mankind. Being mindful of ourselves will give us a better insight of someone else’s struggles. By us being more mindful of who we are, we get greater understanding of the struggles of life and it gives us the tools to deal with them in a more understanding ways. I’m not saying we can change the world with mindfulness, but we can change how we deal with what’s happening to it. We live in a world of distractions, a world full of confusion, and we have no time to do small things that won’t make any difference; besides, what can one person do? Well my friends, I have something to say; we all have a responsibility, not only to ourselves but also to the people around us, to make the world we live in a happy one. We have all heard of a Mexican wave yes? Well look at it this way – in a stadium full of a hundred thousand people, one person’s idea can unite every single person in there to follow a simple action, and when shown how easy it is to achieve it can become unstoppable. Well until your arms get tired anyway, but you get my drift. We all pass the buck, we all ask what we can do? Well we can all make a difference if we really want to. We can all make great changes together, we can transform not only our lives but the whole planet. We can all do this, it’s in all of our capabilities, it all comes down to choice. Make a difference or don’t make a difference, take responsibility or don’t take responsibility. I choose to at least try and I ask of you to do the same; together we can achieve great things. I want a world where my children and grandchildren and my great-grandchildren can grow up with hope in a world of understanding a world of harmony a world of unity. Thinking we can’t won’t get us there, thinking we can, can. Rome wasn’t built in a day or so they say, and starting a world wide consciousness revolution won’t happen quickly either, but we have to at least start something before we can achieve anything. Let’s start with hope.