I think there’s a mythology that if you want to change the world, you have to be sainted, like Mother Teresa or Nelson Mandela or Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Ordinary people with lives that go up and down and around in circles can still contribute to change.
Interpretation
Everyone can bring about change, regardless of their status or background.
Jody Williams emphasizes that the idea of needing to be extraordinary or saintly to make a difference in the world is a myth. Instead, it is the ordinary, everyday actions of people, with all their complexities and ups and downs, that can lead to meaningful change, suggesting that contributions to societal progress can come from anyone.
In practice
During a speech at a community event, to inspire local activists to take action.
Landmines distinguish themselves because once they have been sown, once the soldier walks away from the weapon, the landmine cannot tell the difference between a soldier or a civilian - a woman, a child, a grandmother going out to collect firewood to make the family meal.
I believe that worrying about the problems plaguing our planet without taking steps to confront them is absolutely irrelevant. The only thing that changes this world is taking action.
Guns go home with the soldiers, but landmines are designed to kill - mindlessly, out of control, for years.
What I consider to be peace [is] a sustainable peace in which the majority of people on this planet have access to enough resources to live dignified lives.
It doesn't matter how strong your opinions are. If you don't use your power for positive change, you are, indeed, part of the problem.
The time has come to choose a new direction of global development, to opt for a new civilization.
Reaching a general understanding that sustainability is the ultimate issue will finally bring us face-to-face with the political challenge of forging a sustainable society during the next few decades. It is a challenge we can meet if we have the leadership and the political will to do so.
Gay life in 1970 was very bleak, compartmentalized. You didn't take it to work. You had to really lead a double life. There were bars, but you sort of snuck in and snuck out. Activism and gay pride simply didn't exist. I don't even think the word 'gay' was in existence.
In terms of being able to renew my nation, to be able to be able to bring back a devastated country, to restore hope to our people, to lift women and to give them a new horizon, a new ambition and new dreams, in respect of all of that, I think we've accomplished it, and I feel very good about that.
We have a planetary emergency. We have to find a way to create, in the generation of those alive today, a sense of generational mission.
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