It's difficult to follow a path of responsibility, a path of self-improvement.  We begin life in a body.  I realize this seems to be stating the obvious, but regarding the challenge of choosing that which is noble or idealistic in life - rarely, if ever, does it coincide with the choice our body is urging us toward.

Think about it.  Do you really think all of the people we admire, our human heroes, were going along with the desires of their bodies for comfort and indulgence?  People like Siddhartha, Edmund Hillary, Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi, Rosa Parks, Mother Teresa, Roger Bannister, the list goes on and on.  Of course not - au contraire.  Rather, what makes these humans so admirable for all of us is their drive and willingness to override the natural human tendency to choose the comfortable. 

While it's difficult for a person of average means to achieve such greatness, it's even more challenging if one is on either end of the financial spectrum: the bottom or the top.  While it's arguable that these extremes might provide either greater motivation or greater means to supply the financial fuel to actualize one's vision, I tend to disagree.  It is easier to follow the path most taken by one's peers.  For those of slender means, this is what we typically see, no?  For those with great wealth and resources at their disposal it's much easier to simply choose comfort and indulgence.  Why do I think this is so?  Look around.  What do most people in either category choose?  Yet there are always exceptions.  I'm fortunate enough to know a number of them - but two who stand out as "princesses" of our contemporary world, are the Bronfman sisters.  Watching both Clare and Sara Bronfman step into their shoes of responsibility, when clearly this was not only not necessary for them to do so, but contrary to what most in their position would ever have chosen - has been a memorable and inspirational experience in itself.  I invite you to discover more about these remarkable women yourselves.  Please visit the site for the World Ethical Foundation Consortium, as well as Sara's website.