This week our planet lost a man who repeatedly changed the world.

He changed the way many of us communicate, listen to music, store photo’s watch movies and a whole host of other activities.

Steve Jobs set out to change to world and he succeeded in spades. The world is indeed changed, and a better place, because of his vision, passion and determination.

But he is not alone.

There have been many before him who have changed the world and the world will be changed again, by others, many more times in the future.

And we revere them. We heap praise upon them and tell and retell their stories with great affection.

We often bestow upon them god-like status, elevate them to lofty positions of great power and speak of them as if they belong in a very small group of exceptional achievers – a group in which membership is not even a remote possibility for most of us.

And, for the most part, these gurus are deserving of the accolades we pour over them.

But what about the rest of us.

Can’t we also change the world?

Can’t we also make the world a better place?

Of course we can, and many of us do – regularly.

You see the world we live in is made up of people. Some six billion of us.

That’s an awful lot of people.

And so in order to change the world and make it a better place, we have to do things that change people’s lives and make their lives better.

And we don’t have to do this for each of the 6,000,000,000 souls traversing our planet. No one person has ever done that.

If we make the world a better place for even one person we will have changed the world – their world anyway.

Most of us will never invent an iPod, iPhone, iPad or any other similarly wondrous device.

Most of us will never harness the power of electricity, discover penicillin, wipe out polio, figure out that e = mc² or invent sliced bread.

None of us will ever turn water into wine although many of us regularly reverse that process.

But each one of us has the power to change the world and make it a better place – for someone – every day.

It doesn’t take much and it costs nothing.

Remember; if we positively change the world for only one person – even if only for a moment – we have made the world a better place.

And there are so many ways we can do this.

When we slow down to allow another car into our lane we have changed the world and made it a better place.

When we go through the drive-thru and pay for a cup of coffee for the stranger in the car behind us we have changed the world and made it a better place.

When we stand aside and allow the lady standing in line behind us – the one with two small items to pay for –to go in front of us we have changed the world and made it a better place.

When we drop what we’re doing to be there for a friend in need we have changed the world and made it a better place.

When our smile triggers one in a stranger we have changed the world and made it a better place.

When we show we care we have changed the world and made it a better place.

When we do good things with no expectation of compensation or reward we have changed the world and made it a better place.

When we give a hand up to someone who has fallen down we have changed the world and made it a better place.

When we share what little we have with those who have less we have changed the world and made it a better place.

When we say “please” and “thank you” we have changed the world and made it a better place.

And there are so many other things we can do to change the world and make it a better place and, as mentioned earlier, they don’t take much and they cost nothing.

And while we may never change as many lives as Thales of Miletus who first wrote of experimentation with electrical properties or Alexander Fleming or Jonas Salk or Albert Einstein or Otto Frederick who reputedly invented sliced bread or Steve Jobs, each of them made the world a better place only for those who were the beneficiaries of the deeds – not every living person.

And while the better world you make may not impact on as many lives as they did, this is not a contest.

It is a calling. The highest possible calling.

Imagine what would happen if every living person made the world a better place for just one fellow human each day?

We can do this.

Will we?

Till we read again.

P.S. I am one week closer to having my book Life Sinks or Soars – the Choice is Yours listed on sites like Amazon and Barnes & Noble.. In the meantime if you would like to order the book please click here and the friendly folks at Self Connection will ship one out to you. You can also order the book by emailing me at rael@raelkalley.com.

If you would like a quick peek before ordering please click here and enjoy a complimentary chapter. You can also check out a review of the book. Please click here.