Inspiration from Craig Kielburger
Become a shameless idealist.
That was the call to action I received this year from Craig Kielburger. Craig and his brother Marc founded Free the Children, an organization dedicated to helping young people become socially conscious global citizens.
While Craig’s passion is directed at children helping children, his impact is not reserved for today’s youth. Inspiration is about putting an idea in people’s heads and having them act on it. There have been lots of times in the last few months when I have stopped and asked myself, “What would a shameless idealist do in this situation?” It’s been a great catalyst for moving past inevitable roadblocks and obstacles.
You never know how one thing will lead to another.
I became aware of Craig and Marc’s work when I stumbled upon their book Me to We one day while killing time in an airport in 2004. You never know how one thing will lead to another. I read the book and that led to an exchange of letters and a tour of the Free the Children headquarters in Toronto.
Impressed by the work that Free the Children was doing, I shared their story and website with my oldest daughter who was in her last year of high school at the time. Before I knew it she had begun the application process to participate in a Leaders Today volunteer project. Leaders Today is the youth leadership organization that extends the mission of Free the Children to empowering young people to create positive sustainable changes in the world.
In 2006 my daughter traveled with Leaders Today to Kenya to help build a school in a small village. It was a trip that had a powerful impact on her. Now a university student studying anthropology, she is currently in Tanzania for three months participating in a community health project that addresses malaria and HIV/AIDS.
Helping me set you on fire
Craig Kielburger is certainly a poster boy for making the seemingly impossible happen. He definitely doesn’t settle for mediocre. So it was a simple choice to ask him to write the foreword to my new book Spontaneous Combustion: Setting Your Life on Fire. He recounts how he set his life on fire and in his usual charming way he invites my readers to do the same.
Go ahead.
Spontaneously combust your life.
You never know where it might lead you.
