Who are our present change engines?

How did you became who you are? Do you like who you are? Do you want to change? Who you are is the sum of the experiences you went through your life, and the way you choose to deal with them. You are a product of the social environment you grew up in. IImagine how different you would be if you were born in some far exotic place. The environment you live in clearly influences who you are. But can you influence the environment that surrounds you? Can you change it? Can you make it better? Maybe, just different? I believe that you can. I'm going to tell you why and how.

History is full of people that dared to be different. They invented. Imagined. Healed. Explored. Created. Inspired. Shocked. They push the human race forward. How different would the world be if these past change engines didn't existed? Society is a very static environment. It is traditional and suspicious of new ideas, especially about those that go against or question its most fundamental beliefs. Religion, advertising, movies and other mediums of message spreading tend to homogenate human brains. Not that those messages are good or bad, that's irrelevant for this discussion. The point is that they are the same. They encourage homogeneity. It is sad when the best you can do is a perfect imitation of those that surround you. It takes courage to go against the majority. Imagine Galileo's audacity to challenge the powerful catholic church by supporting Nicholas Copernicus idea that the Earth orbits the Sun. This on a time where one could pay the hefty price of dying on top of a woodpile while engulfed by flames. By the passioned defense of his beliefs he was condemned in 1630 to indefinite house arrest.

Who are our present change engines? You are. Whatever your life is, any time you decide to convert your thoughts into actions you are influencing your surroundings you and by doing that you are changing the world. Changing the world doesn't involve only glorious actions that you may read on the New York Times' front-page. They can be as simple as giving feedback to others, planting a tree, donating 5 dollars or speaking about something you believe in. It's just like filling a glass a drop at a time. It may take some time to see visible results but the filling is already happening. Today while driving home take a moment to think about the ways you are already influencing the world.

Are you another dot in a gray painting? Are you just like the rest? Thinking the same thoughts? Performing the same actions? We grow up with underlying messages of 'Independent Thinking Unwelcome'. Just look back on your school days. What defined your level as a student were the memorization and the pseudo-comprehension of established ideas. Why bother thinking differently when we don't get any reward for it? There are three methods that will help you to change the world. First, think independently. Defy and ignore precedent. I challenge you to do that. Be opinionated. Question the world that surrounds you. Why? Can I do it differently? Who said that? What's not necessary? What else can be done? What are the negatives? How about down instead of up? Second, take action on your ideas. As important as creating new ideas is to have the courage to take action on them, to make them real. This is where most people fall short, because they are too afraid of failing or compromising. The ideas die in their brains. Third, increase the number of change engines. Ask help from people that have ideals similar to yours. Going back to the water glass analogy, this will be like having multiple drops falling into the glass simultaneously. The results will be seen faster, which will motivate more people to join in, creating a chain reaction. The secret resides on the powerful consequence that the sum of all our actions can have!

It is historically proven that one single person's ideas and passions can change the world. You have that power inside of you. Use it. Give something back. As Mohandas Gandhi said, be the change you want to see. Go change the world!

What's up with the death penalty?

Freddie Pitts and Wilbert Lee had meet that night on 1963. That night was the night when two gas station attendants at Port St. Joe in Florida were killed. Freedie and Wilbert were condemned to death for that crime, though no physical evidence linked them to the scene. They lived twelve agonizing years waiting to die for a crime they knew they didn't committed. Their convictions were a result of coerced confessions, erroneous testimony of an alleged eyewitness, and incompetent defense counsel. Waiting for death, in a six feet wide, 9 feet long cell, was their life until another men - sentenced to life for another homicide - confessed to the murders. That new information prompted a second trial. Again, the jury convicted Freedie and Wilbert. In 1975 Florida's governor pardoned the two, mentioning "I am sufficiently convinced that they are innocent". Had their execution not been stayed while the constitutional status of the death penalty was argued in the courts in the early 70s, these two innocent men probably would not be alive today. There are dozens of stories like this. There is Anthony, Ray, James, Robert, Andrew… How do feel about Freddie and Wilbert? What if they were your parents? Or your brothers? Or you? The death penalty was to be abolished. I'm going to tell you why.

I don't believe in the argument of deterrence. Death penalty does not prevent future murders. The US, with the death penalty, has a higher murder rate than any European country, which banned it. Persons who commit murder either premeditate them or they do not. If the crime is premeditated, the criminal is concentrated on escaping detection and conviction. They are sure they are smarter than the justice and don't believe the shadow of capital punishment will touch them. If the crime is not premeditated, is hard to imagine how any punishment will deter it. Most capital crimes are committed during moments of great emotional stress or under influence of drugs or alcohol, when logical thinking had been suspended.

I don't believe in the argument of retribution. Death penalty is not a just response for the taking of a life. Retribution is another word for revenge - an eye for an eye. Our laws should lead us to higher principles that demonstrate a complete respect for life. We don't allow torturing the torturer, or raping the rapist. When someone takes a life, the balance of justice is disturbed, but killing someone does not rebalance the scale, it tips it to the other side. The standards of a mature society demand a more measured response. It should lead us to higher principles that demonstrates a complete respect for life. Vengeance is a very strong and natural emotion, but it was no place in our justice system.

I believe in the argument of innocence. Death penalty imposes an irrevocable sentence. Since 1973, at least 88 people have been released from death row after evidence of their innocence emerged. During the same time 650 people have been executed. How many of those 650 were really guilty? The irrevocable sentence of capital punishment doesn't allow injustices to be corrected. According to the Innocence Project organization as many as 10 percent of inmates in the United States may be factually innocent of the crimes of which they were convicted, according to the National Institute of Justice. That's as many as 200,000 innocent people languishing in American prisons. How do you feel if you were the one that was mistakenly sentenced to die for a crime you didn't commit?

I believe in the argument of arbitrariness and discrimination. The death penalty is applied unfairly. It does not single out the worst offenders. It selects an arbitrary group based on such irrational factors as the quality of the defense counsel, the county in which the crime was committed, or the race of the defendant or victim. A poorly represented defendant is much more likely to be convicted and given a death sentence. Prosecutors also have an enormous discretion about when to seek the death penalty and when to settle for a plea bargain. Situations where police used coerced confessions or questionable eyewitness identifications; prosecutors who exploit false testimony or inaccurate scientific evidence; jurors who are tainted by prejudice; judges who are out for headlines; and suspects who are easy marks -- because of their race, criminal background or inability to afford a good lawyer.

Let's replace the death penalty with life without parole for serious crimes. The safety of society can still be assured without using the death penalty. Let's make the prisoners live a simple life, a life without luxuries or privileges. Let's allow them to give back to society. I don't believe in the death penalty. I don't believe it prevents future murders. I don't believe it is a just response to crime. Let's end this example of barbarity. No society can safely entrust the enforcement of its laws to torture, brutality, or killing.

Why should you become a mentor?

He is 12 years old. He was adopted when he was a little child. Three years ago, after his parents divorced, he moved from Illinois to Michigan with his mother, which lives on social security due to serious health problems. He struggles with school, in part due to ADD. He is African American in a community where the majority is Caucasian. He is a great kid and he's been my mentoree for ten months. I was quite nervous on our first encounter. I've never mentored anyone before and I was not sure if we would get along. The social worker for the mentoring organization was going to introduce us. After the initial moments I went to his room while Sandy, the social worker, talked to his mother about me. His room was a big muddle! Just imagine a room where everything is where it shouldn't be. I was looking for a place to sit. Looking around I found that the bed was the only place uncluttered. The challenge was to arrive there without steeping on the cloths covering the floor. After successfully completing his room obstacle course we started to talk. We found that we both love basketball and sports in general, so we arrange that the first time we went out would be to play some hoops.

Mentoring comes from the Greek word meaning enduring. A mentor is an adult who, along with parents, provides young people with support, counsel, friendship, reinforcement and constructive example. Mentors are good listeners, people who care, people who want to help young people bring out strengths that are already there. Why is mentoring so important? The number of single-parent homes has radically increased, as have two-parent working families. More preventive care is needed, as are support networks to fill the void left by busy or absent parents. Other statistics are equally troubling: each day in the United States, 3,600 students drop out of high school, and 2,700 unwed teenage girls get pregnant. You can help stop and reverse this statistics by becoming a mentor. There are some important lessons I've learned about mentoring.

Mentoring must be a sustained relationship. Investing time in a consistent way is very important for the success of the relationship. The kid will understand that you are there to stay and that you are interest in spending time with him/her. You will see the kid open up to you and every encounter he/she will be more at easy with you.

Benefits go both ways. As in any relationship you also receive by giving. Mentors share in the joy of the quirky humor; the curiosity and wonder; the excitement of learning and discovery; the special bond of friendship. Your personality will become younger and you will relearn the excitement towards many facets of life that you forgot while you were growing up and society transformed you in a very serious individual.

Think like a kid. Things that may seem easy or straightforward to you are often mysterious to young people. Remember when you were young. Recall the questions and doubts you had. Mentorees typically have a number of challenges in their life. Talk with them about the problems you faced in your childhood.

I challenge you to consider mentoring. I hope that the information I gave you will encourage you to want to learn more. You'll be able to handle the mentoring commitment. You can find a list of mentoring organizations in you area at www.mentoring.org - go there today! It's an experience that will change two lives - the kid's and yours.