How Does One Go From Ordinary to Extraordinary?

*Inspired by Mohammed Bouazizi*

“The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra.” - Jimmy Johnson 

When I was in primary school, my teacher asked the class 'Do you believe that one person can change the world?' We all thought for a few seconds and NO was the resounding answer. At the grand old age of eight or so, Princess Diana came to mind and I remember pondering 'well, she's just one person and she has changed the world', of course at eight though, the world is not much bigger than my My Little Pony lunchbox. Then I reconsidered that she was royalty and from money, she was no ordinary person so therefore she didn't count. It's 17 years later and I still wonder if our answers would have been the same. Even more importantly, do I think, now, at 25 years old, older but apparently none the wiser, if one person can truly change the world?

Some of the most famous figures in history and in the present whom I think have changed the world are people such as Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King and Ghandi. They suffered injustice and assassination but moreover changed the entire political landscapes of their racist countries. And without actually becoming politicians.

'Stop injustice with your hands, if you cannot, try to stop it with your tongue, if you cannot even do that then at least hate injustice with your heart, although that is the lowest degree of faith'. Prophet Muhammad (saw).

There have been countless times when I have had time to myself, whether on the bus or waiting in a queue, that I get into such a tizzy in my head over various injustices around the world, to the point where my face is in a full blown frown and heart starts physically straining. Now I am an adult, how do I go about from simply hating wrong with my heart to stopping it with my hand? Actually changing the world?

Governments should be scared of us, NOT the other way round!

Even though the governments are meant to be FOR the people, WORKING FOR the people, they don't want to listen to anything we want. Even when they promise that if a motion gets 100,000 signatures they will debate it in Parliament, no-one is surprised by the resulting absence of response/debate. If you're going to lie at least do it properly! Granted some of the views of the majority are astoundingly misguided e.g. calls for the restoration of the death penalty or leaving the EU, some are sound, yet are still ignored. Of course it goes deeper than that, it even goes deeper than the so far released Wiki cables. The governments of the world were up in arms over diplomatic conversations going public. Excuse me but the last time I checked governments were working FOR US, so why do we not have the right to know what's really going on?? or at the very least know what you really think about one another (see Saudi on bombing Iran). Is anyone put on trial for the murders of the Reuters journalists, the civilians and the children killed in that infamous Wikileaks video? What exactly are the results of exposing their conversations and war crimes?

The solitary confinement and mental torture of Bradley Manning, the absurd extradition of Julian Assange and the shutdown of Wikileaks through forcing the massive companies in the world (Visa, Paypal, Apple etc) to withdraw any Wikileaks finance or material. Wikileaks was meant to make the governments face the reality but instead its the exposer who suffers.

Western powers and even the Arab League, pause for a minute, the ARAB LEAGUE, a host of dictators, people oppressors and human rights abusers, seemingly support other nation's fight for freedom. JUST NOT THEIR OWN nations. This selective support is unbelievably hypocritical, and no-one is fooled that this posturing has more to do with ease, security concerns, allies, business interests and so forth.

Are the blood and dignity of the citizens of Libya and Syria more worthy of governmental support than those of Yemen and Bahrain? And there are other countries, especially in the Gulf, that also MUST be fighting for freedom, but we do not hear about it or it quickly disappears from the news.

Although the Eurozone crisis and mass unemployment is taking over the headlines, we must remember that economic justice and social justice go hand in hand. While protests are being suppressed all over the world, please do not be deterred even in the land of lie-down Britain (see Sleepwalking blog). We must do whatever we can because this is OUR lives that are in the hands of the few, our governments, and by proxy the rich. The fight for justice must continue, whether it's with your heart, mouth or hand* (or twitter) and we cannot be the ones left behind.

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*Prophet Muhammad