There’s one thing I could proudly tell about myself: I’m passionate about Nature’s wonders.

That’s why I went to study Ecology and Environmental Protection in college. That’s why I read as many books and participated in as many project as I could. My mind was preoccupied with finding the solutions to problems like pollution and loss of biodiversity and natural resources.

I used to see only the bad part: the ugly gray city, devastated forests and littered villages. Things going from bad to worse.

Until I realized that there must be a balance.

The mindset that I got into all those years told me that the world was splitted in two: one side was Nature and the other side was Man.

I kept looking at Nature but I didn’t look around myself. And when I did look around, I saw the greatest waste of all, the one that produced the huge costs on Nature.

That’s the waste of human potential.

I know so many intelligent people, girls especially, who buried their God-given gift because their parents or teachers told them they shouldn’t be smart and creative…

A person like this could find a cure for AIDS.

I know so many talented people who chose a different career because that’s why others do… Depriving the world of their potential and offering instead what the majority can offer.

A person like this could bring happiness in people’s hearts.

I know so many lively and enthusiastic young people who were drowned in the sea of negativism and pulled back by the others…

A person like this could become a modern-day hero.

I know so many sensitive people — but since kids they weren’t perceived as “real men” and discouraged to express and strengthen their peaceful side.

A person like this could become a peace-maker.

Mouths to feed? I think it’s possible to feed all the poor of this world. Just think about redirecting military expenses to charity, international volunteering. Training and hiring professional peace-makers: negotiators, problem- and conflict- solvers. Still the greatest force that drives this world is — I think — fear.

I think that the mouths could be fed. But this also means making the people lose their dignity.

Feeding their minds so they could work changes the problem.

What about the minds to feed?