It's fall, 2008. A high school student in Berne, IN sits in science class. Her hand's in the air. The question pops, "Can't we do something different this year? Instead of projects from a book, could we use this time and our science to actually do something?"
Her teacher takes the question seriously, thinking of a friend doing humanitarian relief in Haiti.
So now, instead of reading text books, they research water filtration and wind energy. They design and build ultra affordable water filtration systems. They raise money and donations.
They build filters. They begin flying to Haiti, year after year, where a 90 mile bus ride takes 6 hours, the toilet is flushed with a bucket, and they're thrilled to have it in a city of 100,000 people and only 7 working toilets.
Then this meagre comfort is left behind for a 5 mile hike into the mountains of a remote village. They install their filters and train mothers how to use them. The children stop dying. The fathers cry in gratitude. And the best science class in the world begins the long trek back to its Indiana classroom.
Imagine changing lives. Lots of them. Children smiling as they dance around you. Mothers who can't stop saying 'thank you', tears in their eyes. Imagine all that power resting, not in the answers, but in that simple question, "Can't we do something different?"
You have this power. To change your life, your place of work, or a community halfway 'round the world. And you don't even need all the answers, because you're the type who knows change isn't created by those with the answers. Change comes simply from you and the questions you're willing to ask.