What Local Guides means to me: Power to the People – Every Voice Is Heard
From my point of view Local Guides is a huge social movement which has the potential to be the greatest movement in history. Every human being in the universe has something which he or she can contribute and something which can be given him in the nearby area surrounding his home, in places he visits within his native country, or on his travels to other countries and faraway continents. Therefore, I identify the ability of the Local Guide as part of a large body which influences the lives of people, businesses, organizations and community goals.
The beauty of this type of movement, which has no doctrine or manifesto, no leader or “right” way, is its ideology - the generosity of all of its members in sharing information and experiences and the wide variety of information that its users are exposed to in every field imaginable. And the best part is that everyone is welcome to join – and everyone is equal, good and invited to express himself and share his experiences in whatever fields that interest him.
The brilliant idea of organizing hundreds of thousands (or more) of people who will probably never meet each other to merge together, giving freely of their time in order to help businesses as well as enrich the other participants in the movement, is what makes Local Guides so unique. What amazes me about Local Guides is the fact that rather than having one central theme it encompasses thousands of small ideas and useful tidbits of information on every subject under the sun. So often when I read descriptions of various places my natural curiosity is aroused even further as well as the urge to travel and experience them for myself. I love being exposed to the other Local Guides’ outlook on life and learning about what they do, and this makes it exciting for me to share my experiences with them.
The fact that Local Guides is based simply on the curiosity and willingness to share of its participants, and has mushroomed into the monumental movement that it is, is something almost impossible to perceive. It exhilarates me to be part of such a special and purposeful social movement – one which is growing uninterruptedly and has made headway into every town and country, with representatives from nearly every tribe, culture, language, race and religion in the world. It comes to mind that John Lennon may have imagined a movement such as Local Guides when he wrote the words to the eternal “Imagine”. No matter if you are a farmer from Indonesia, a zoologist from Belgium, a housekeeper from Jordan or a lifeguard from Australia – anybody can be a Local Guide and influence his own life and that of his family, his neighbors, the community, and on and on in never-ending waves.
Thus, for me the conceptual meaning of being a Local Guide is to be part of a generous, supportive, welcoming, worldwide community that has no borders. And the practical meaning is to put local businesses in my community on the map.