W12 Paper: Parenting

 Week 02: Become the Change You Wish To See

·         Summary of the main ideas and topics of the week.

This week's lessons thought me to really search for my talents and gifts in order to be at the service of mankind. For that, some of us are gifted to become effective social entrepreneurs whiles others are not. But as human beings, we need everyone’s participation in building a new society, becoming the answer to our global problems through our actions.

The topic “What is your calling” made me gained new insight by explaining what Martin Luther King expressed as a definition of work which is for him “How we participate in God’s providence toward His children”. That is the aim of work, to share our ability in the development of our society. We don’t have to work for money only, from time to time, I need to volunteer as well to create a great impact. I have been taking children from age 12 to 14 for the free computer at my house, and I can see how they love the sessions and becoming more open to me which gives me an opportunity to share a 15 minutes spiritual thought with them. Connecting with these children is so rewarding in heaven and helps me to make an impact in their lives.

“Social entrepreneurs are individuals with innovative solutions to society’s most pressing social problems. They are ambitious and persistent, tackling major social issues and offering new ideas for wide-scale change.”

According to the Ballard center which motto is “do good better”, Social Innovation is something self-sustaining, is this idea of scalability that you can bring it to a lot of people solves a problem then adjust it at new locations.

In the book “How to change the world”, Bornstein described a remarkable story of Rosa decided to help where politicians failed to solve the problem of irrigation for the poor farmers. The solution was to use electricity to get the water out of the ground to cut the price of water which was high. For that, he uses Amaral’s electrification approach used in a different location to be implemented to the citizens of Palmares to solve the irrigation problem and was able to supply electricity to thousands of households.

Micro-finance is an idea of providing loans to poverty. This would help them have money to buy their own materials to continue their ways of income but taking out a shady middle man (bank interest) which increases the lifestyle of the society.

 
 
If you exercise faith in the Lord, follow His spirit and seek to amplify your gifts, you will be led gradually to a place where you are well equipped to serve.
So perhaps the state of our hearts is as important as the tasks we do in determining whether our work is true—and eternally—meaningful
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A response to a specific reading, video, or activity. For instance, did something spark interest, surprise, anger, inspire, or confuse you? Reference the specific reading, video, or activity. Add your thoughts, and explain your reaction.

As a social entrepreneur, I should strive to become a person who thinks about solutions that can help others locally or internationally. My focus though will aim to maximize profits, but empowering people to move forward is the best way while making money. It will not make a real sense to build a mansion in a village where people live under one dollar a day and call yourself an effective entrepreneur. As we rise, we rise with our community. You can make a profit and be involved in social innovation and be in the middle and that is where we want to be.

“Be the change you wish to see in the world.” Although this quote is attributed to Mahatma Gandhi, he actually said: “In order for the world to change, we first need to change. We should change our attitude toward the reality we face. We need to make the first step in the change game. Our savior Jesus Christ taught in Mark 8:36 For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Change has to start within us.  

 

·      What connections do you see between Jeffrey Thompson’s article, the Gospel, and social innovation?

If we see “work” as a source to satisfy only our emotional desire, then we are having a wrong perspective of what life should be. Martin Luther King's explanation about considering work as a calling, a way to render service to mankind is to be the best way to look at the word “work”. Understanding it this way develops a sense of love for what we doing and brings joy to everyone around us.

As we work with people, we need to pray for them as well (Alma 34:20). Even if we are not shepherds by trade, we all tend professional flocks, and He is mindful of them. Knowing that we need not be quite so anxious about our calling in life.  In this article, we learn that trying to think about our life’s work without anxiety involved will prove to be much more rewarding, paired with prayer.

Martin Luther believed that any type of work could be a calling, so long as it rendered service to mankind.  So the very roots of the idea of a professional calling are distinctly religious. Ironically, the world still embraces the notion of a professional calling, but it has almost entirely abandoned the spiritual roots of the idea.  Lucky for us we have another perspective.

In fact, finding our calling in life involves the same process as discovering our spiritual gifts. Elder Robert D. Hales has provided some insight into this process: “To find the gifts we have been given, we must pray and fast. . . . I urge you each to discover your gifts and to seek after those that will bring direction to your life’s work and that will further the work of heaven.”

Social innovation is about finding ourselves. Our Heavenly Father knows the gifts and talents we have. He can help us find them and for that, we need to pray and even fast to recognize them.