There’s a game I play a lot, ‘Civilization.’ It’s a strategy game, probably boring for most of you. You create a city, and you grow its population, its culture, its army, and you fight for survival; you grow from an uncivilized camp into a civilization with tall buildings, and thousands of people. Boring?

Well, in this strategy game ‘Civilization,’ you get to play with famous icons in world history such as Leonardo Da Vinci, Thomas Edison, George Washington… In the game, these people are called “Great People,” and they can influence your team in many ways. And what’s cool is that they can create this ‘Golden Age,’ where all your money would double. Bear with me here, I have a point.

But what’s more is that I realized that these people, these figures we just read and learn about in history books, were really the Great People of their time. They had raised their voices and had impacted their time, their culture, and now even after hundreds or thousands of years, people are still taking about them; they were using them in games!! This really shocked me. Who are we going to say was a great person in 200 years? Probably Barack Obama, or Ban Ki Moon, or maybe even Justin Bieber. The fact that Justin Bieber, and his girlfriend have more impact than me really got me thinking. My dad’s voice sounded in my head, “Justin Bieber is impacting if not changing the world culture every day. What have you been up to lately?”

I don’t know about you guys, but that made me feel small, like I wouldn’t matter, Like my name wouldn’t be known after I pass away. They wouldn’t use me as a Great Person in the next ‘Civilization’ game.

But why, why wouldn’t they use me? Why can’t I be the next Adam Smith; father of Economics, or J. Robert Oppenheimer; one of the inventors of nuclear energy? What are we waiting for? Who are we waiting for? We can’t sit aside as we watch Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus be named one of the most influential people alive. No!! (I’m not just saying this out of hatred.)

So I made a pact; a pact that vowed to change history, to change lives, to list myself as one of the prodigy of the 21st century, who was known around the world for the great things he did. And why not? We are living on God’s earth. His civilization. Why shouldn’t we be the people that impact the game? Why can’t we be great people?