Why I Won’t Tell My Son to Change the World

But to change minds and lives instead

Lisa Lau
7 min readJun 12, 2024
Image: AI Art

There’s a Maya Angelou quote that has stuck with me since the fourth grade:

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

In a great big world of lofty problems and so much unknown, this quote impressed upon me that as a little person, I could still make meaningful impact by focusing on the individuals around me.

As a child, this meant saying “Thank You” to the school janitor, volunteering to be a “Reading Buddy” to kindergarteners, and organizing friends to create a birthday card for our teacher.

However, the prevailing message for young people has always been:

“Go out there and change the world!”

Speakers at school would inevitably rally our life goals around this ultimate idealistic message. However, I often felt that this idea was too nebulous and abstract to act upon.

Whenever I heard it, I imagined a group of determined young people storming out of school. Empowered with their boundless enthusiasm, they shout at unsuspecting bystanders about their determination to change the world.

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Lisa Lau
Lisa Lau

Written by Lisa Lau

Insomniac, knowledge thrill-seeker, leisure and cathartic writer

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