The DVD player had been faulty for a while, and it didn't seem like we were going to fix it soon. I had no idea how, but I opened it up anyway to give it a try. How I went from that to blowing up the house's electricity is a long story, but that was typical me at ten years old.
More than a decade later, I could very well handle problems two times bigger, but I never really thought it much of a privilege that many do not have. The privilege of undergoing my desired course of study and having what I needed to finish. Someone gave that to me, and it would only be giving back to humanity to pay it forward.
It always brings me joy to have these kinds of problems in my life and to have the ability to at least tackle them, if not solve them. I wonder what it would have been like—how I would be feeling today, seeing my peers do the things that I had always dreamed of but was unable to because I couldn't get what I needed to follow the course. To then imagine that there are people living in such reality, unable to reach potential because of certain crucial lacks, just beats me.
There are thousands of kids out there that want to do big things, yet they can't even start small. They have a dream, but they only get to live it in their sleep. In the waking world, they are subjected to experiences that continually derail them from the things they really want to do and who they want to become. Provide them what they need, and maybe there will be even more Einstein, Newton, or even Elon Musk.
If I had a million dollars to spend it all on something charitable, it would definitely be an empowerment program to bring kids closer to their potential. Perhaps a foundation that would provide for them what they need and, most importantly, send them through the education they require to fulfil.
What really is life if you don't impact the lives around you and leave something for generations to come to at least benefit? If these thousands of kids could be put on their track, that's something solid for humanity. You never know what could come out of it.
All images are mine, and they are shots of my model of an automatic car washing system