Editor’s Perspective: September 27th 2018

“If you can dream it, you can do it. Always remember this whole thing was started by a mouse,” Walt Disney.

Just 50 years ago, it was widely believed that it was physiologically impossible for women to run a 26 mile course. Despite stewards trying to physically prevent the 20-year-old from competing, Kathrine Switzer became the first woman to officially run the 26-mile Boston Marathon in 1967. It’s not just women that are breaking down barriers. Every year humankind achieves more than we ever thought possible. I find it incredibly fascinating when I think about the level of phenomenal changes we have been witness to just in such a short period of human existence.

What is perhaps even more impressive is the impact just one single person can have on the world. Edward Jenner developed the smallpox vaccine, successfully eradicating an illness that had claimed approximately 500 million lives in the 20th century alone. You don’t need to be a world-leading scientist to make your mark on the world.
I remember the mantra that was drummed into me as a small human – ‘treat others as you wish to be treated’ and, if I was going to choose one key life philosophy to base my life around, this would be it. So let that driver into the queue, pick the kids up from school early and go for ice cream, or share a smile with a stranger for no reason. Remember, you don’t know what battles others are fighting.

As the Dalai Lama once said, “Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.”