Dear Brothers and Sisters:

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has,”  (Margaret Mead).

Each component of Margaret Mead’s compelling formula for changing the world is an essential element.

Her command to “never doubt” tells skeptics that they are wrong – you really can change the world – and also underscores the transformative power that belief plays for those who have successfully sought to change the world. History, indeed, has demonstrated that small teams of thoughtful, committed people have achieved extraordinary things. The Civil Rights Movement began as a series of small groups carrying out small actions, such as sitting down at a segregated lunch counter. India’s historic independence from Great Britain began as a series of small strategic actions from a dedicated few. Habitat for Humanity began with a few people building houses for the poor in a small town in Georgia and has since built more than 175,000 houses in countries around the world.

A “small group” underscores the remarkable power of teamwork to transform, to inspire, and to succeed. Teams can accomplish amazing and seemingly impossible things because they have the ability to generate new energies. Just as the whole is greater than the sum of its parts because the whole includes the connections between each part, high achieving teams generate more energy, will, passion, and ideas than the sum of what their individual members alone could muster.

To be successful, a team must also be “thoughtful,” constantly generating strategies, tactics, and analyses for success.

But the critical component for success is “commitment.” Those who succeed in world-changing activities have an unwavering, passionate, almost irrational commitment to their cause. Any of us can choose to use this formula, to find a cause we are passionately committed to, to recruit a team as passionate as ourselves, to generate ideas and strategies, and to stay the course, to be committed, fundamentally committed, until success is achieved.

On my desk is a plaque that a friend of mine gave me years ago. It reads: “You must be the change you wish to see in the world,” (Gandhi).

May we strive, as small groups and even as individuals, to change our world from darkness into light. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise!

In the Spirit of the Redeemer,

Paul J. Borowski, C.Ss.R.