We held our largest workshop to date yesterday. 400 students at Sagar Manni High School in Sirsa, Haryana explored their life purpose and expressed their hearts through painting. As I spoke with them they shared many poignant stories with me. Hearts of the World has traveled to twelve countries so far and one thing I’ve noticed about the young people of India is that the vast majority of them paint in their hearts not their own dreams, but the desires of their parents.

When asked about their greatest dream for life I can say that possibly 75% of students answer the same, “DOCTOR.” When we ask them why, many of them don’t know. Many respond with something to the effect of “because my parents want it.”

“My parents want me to be a doctor, but I want to be a teacher. I say, a teacher can bring our country many more doctors, but a doctor cannot bring us any more teachers.” 

“My heart is named, ‘Please don’t kill my dream.’ My parents want me to be a doctor, but I want to be a fashion designer. I would be a much better fashion designer than a doctor.”

There are 1.25 billion people in India, more than 50% of them are below the age of 25.

How many doctors can a country have? What kind of doctors will they be?