Change.....

"They say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself." AH

I first want to say that even though Warhol was a little out there, he definitely nailed the meaning of this quote. People are always saying that time heals all wounds or that just give it time and things will change. Well in some cases like high school feuds or your first girl/boyfriend dumping you that might be the truth. But the thing I like to call the, "real world" where there are decisions to be made and tough choices to make, change has to happen now, and waiting for it to happen does not work people have to gut check themselves and go out and do it and make it happen. The only person you can count on to change something is yourself.

By having an individual read this quote and taking the words to heart, they can contribute to a group or community change by taking the fight to the problem. Like Warhol said, "you actually have to change them yourself," and they way I interpreted that at least is that if I want something to change then I have to get off my ass, stop passing the buck, stop expecting someone else to do it, and realize that I am the only one to have to power to change the problem. Now if more people bought into that then instead of being just one person changing the problem or issue, there would be many. 

This type of change would fall under the second order of change, because you are implementing a social movement type of change not just something that effects the immediate people around you. Well at least in my train of thought, I know that I can change the people around me easily, but what I want and hopefully all want is to tackle the big issues effecting our country and our world and that is where the second order of change would be implemented in. The key I believe is to get everyone to buy into the change you want to make happen so they are not those unmotivated, negative-Nancey's in which all they do is bring the entire movement down and nothing else. You have to think how things like the Berlin Wall came down, how communism in third world countries were destroyed, how a bunch of pilgrims who wanted religious and political freedom were the catalyst for this great country we live in today.

People need to be motivated, engaged, and buy in to what you want to do to be able to get a social movement happening. Again let me end on this note," but you actually have to change them YOURSELF!"

-TA
                                                                                                                                                                                                     

Blog #2

A leadership experience that I had that followed the SCM of leadership development would be when I was 17 and was completing my Eagle Scout service project. To attain the highest rank in scouting, eagle, you have to complete a value based service project that will have a lasting impression on people for many years to come. What I did was I built a room for the Westerville Area Resource Ministry (W.A.R.M) who's motto is, "Give a hand up, not a hand out." What they do is help people lead better lives for the future, not just the present so they can be viable people in our society. My project was to build a daycare room for parents to drop off there kids when they are seeking counseling.
I know that when I was growing up there would be nothing worse than going to a place with mom or dad and just sitting in a waiting room for what seemed like hours waiting on them return and have nothing to do there but be bored. So what I wanted to do was build a room that would entertain as well as educate children while they were waiting on there parents as they received invaluable assistance from this organization. So through many generous donations from local businesses I built a very comfortable and cozy room that would keep children occupied for the duration of there parents visit there.It was a two fold victory for me because not only did I complete the cornerstone requirement for my eagle but gave back something tangible that people could use on a daily basis. I felt awesome after I initially completed the project but the best feeling was when I stopped back in there unannounced over last winter break and saw how engaged and entertain the children were using that room and the things on the inside while there parents where there. Being that young you do not realize that your folks are hard up, so doing anything to brighten there days was just the best feeling in the world.
Switching gears and now talking about change and how to manage change and how it is most effective is a great question to pose. I feel there are two ways to thing about change in our society, you can either wait for change and hope that it comes or you can step up and become and make change happen for yourself. Personally I am the type of guy that if its not broke don't fix it but that is not saying if there needs to be change then I will try to make that happen. So when President Obama came out with his Obamacare health care plan, and changing everything up, yes I did not respond well to that and did not like to see it happen, and I still do not. So my change will be slow if at all with that going through. But when we decided to change the way we were fighting the war in Iraq and decided it is time to draw down the troop numbers then I responded to that better because I knew that was a change in the right direction. How is change most effective and what you need to manage change is a pretty easy question to answer I think but the solution might be tough. The answer is identifying things that need to changed, I think as a society we can think of many things that needed to be changed but it executing the change that is hard sometimes. Change is most effective when it will change a large number of people for the better. Identifying a large concern that a large amount of people will like to see changed in some manner. What you need to manage and see that change carried out is a lot of dedicated and driven people that are ready to to put the work in to make that goal a reality and see that change come into action. It might take months or years to finally see it happen but if you work at it long enough then you will see it come through.

Social Change Awareness....?

Well hello everyone out there in cyberspace, this is my first ever blog I have ever wrote so I hope it keeps you somewhat engaged! In what ways am I becoming more aware of social change and how it is shaping me as a leader? Well that is a difficult question for me to answer in a straight forward response. Until a week ago I was not quite sure what the term "social change" meant. Social change to me means that you are changing your environment in a positive way and you are making a direct impact on the people around you, especially some of the least fortunate ones who are in need of social change. In my 22 years I have not really been involved in any direct social change movements, now that is not saying that I have not done good deeds or service projects to help better my community and the people around me. I am very involved in my church, the Knights of Columbus, my scout troop, and obviously my fraternity. Yes I have been involved in very worthwhile service projects and have done good turns daily, but I feel that being part of a movement that socially changes a group of people is much, much more than service projects or philanthropic efforts.
I feel that to take part in a movement that socially changes a community or a group of people is a major effort, because you are not just helping people for a day, week, or a year but for a lifetime. You have made their lives better forever and I know that personally and unfortunately have not been apart of such a movement. But I am welcoming the opportunity to take on an effort like that and really make a difference for a lifetime, not just the present.
I do not think there is a time in my life where I thought of social change differently because honestly I never really heard of the term or seen people engaging in socially changing activities. Since I am green at the gills with this, I am welcoming it into my life and I hope that I can engage the people around me to get educated about what this really means also. But how I would approach this now would be with open arms, an open mind, and an open heart. My current approach to this topic is just to get educated and take that knowledge I receive from this class and my peers and then become the subject matter expert and in return educate the people around me to advocates for this. Then instead of talking about how they took the wrong approach and how they are correcting it later on, that they take right approach first and lead by example to their peers. Now I would think that would be a socially changing movement.