Monday, December 11, 2006

A Noble Cause

Professor Mohammad Yunus in his speech at the Nobel Prize award has made us proud.
Here’s some excerpts from his speech that I really liked.
“Human beings are a wonderful creation embodied with limitless human qualities and capabilities. Our theoretical constructs should make room for the blossoming of those qualities, not assume them away. A human being is born into this world fully equipped not only to take care of him or herself but also to contribute to enlarging the well being of the world as a whole”…
“We create what we want, or what we don’t refuse. ….We wanted to go to the moon, so we went there. We achieve what we want to achieve. If we are not achieving something, its because we have not put our minds to it. We create what we want”…
“What we want and how we get to it depends on our mindset…”
Recently, a person I came across at a voluntary organization had problems which she felt she couldn’t get out of. She was depressed, pessimistic and totally at the end of her tethers. By listening to her, I realized one very important issue. She had more academic qualifications than I had at the moment and she could do something that I have always wanted to do.
So I told her, "If I was in your shoes dear, I would have got out of town where there there is no potential for growth and see which part of the world needs me".
For me it was just a passing idea but she took it up on a whim. She took trouble to browse the internet, applied for some of the programs being offered and applied accordingly. It took more trouble than she thought it would. But…
Not only did she receive an invitation from USAID Dhaka Mission to attend an International course on "Making decentralization work: Tools for policy makers and managers", which took place in "Harvard School of Public Health" but her presentation was recognized as being unique by the professors there. She spoke on "how the donors are creating problems in developing countries and wasting donors money". Her presentation was applauded for being unique and informative as this issue in an international forum and getting special attention will bring a change in the policy level in the coming days and will help the donors communicating with each other before committing funds for Bangladesh, the needy people will be addressed properly with donors valuable money.
Presently Dr. Rupa is tremendously successful, positive and highly motivated as a person.
The point here is, there are opportunities everywhere, we just don’t see them but they are there. So, next time you think you can’t get out of a situation because its too stifling, check out the options and change your mindset. Ask friends for their feedback and ideas. You never know, they might come up with an idea that you never could have thought of and it might change your life.
Hurray to Dr. Yunus in receiving the Noble Prize and changing the lives of thousands of people! We need more people like that in this world!

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