Brief Summary: William Wilberforce's Actions

William Wilberforce, who lived from 1759 to 1833, was a British man who was a member of parliament. He is famous for being a leading abolitionist of England at the time. He influenced others to the point where slavery was abolished from England, and in turn stagnated the worldwide slave trade. His actions are good to learn from. William Wilberforce knew that in order to change big things, like slavery, he had to change individual people’s hearts. For example, he was great at convincing people that slavery was grievously wrong, and all these people he convinced helped him gain leverage for his movement. This reminds me that if I want to get something changed, I have to begin by convincing individual people and their hearts. William Wilberforce
also held to his beliefs strongly. The whole reason he was an abolitionist was because he converted to Christianity. This solidified his hatred of slavery, and held to his beliefs like cement. His deep conviction, that wasn’t able to be rocked by anyone, is something to look up to, as in this world it is easy to have one’s beliefs pushed around. If you don’t have that courage to stand up for what you believe in, you will not be a good leader. Finally, William Wilberforce appealed to a higher force when he needed help with his endeavours: he prayed. William found his motivation, strength, and purpose through God, and he asked for strength every day. There is no doubt one of the reasons this one man was so successful; he could not have done it without God. William Wilberforce is a man to emulate, because of he know how to get change to happen, he held strongly to his beliefs, and he relied on a higher power, that is God, when he needed to. He shows how anyone can change the world if they know the right was to do it. William inspires me to be a better leader.