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In Genesis, Pharaoh had a dream that troubled him. He called all the magicians and wise men to come and interpret the dream. None of them could. But the chief butler remembered a dream teller he met in prison two years back, and so the dream teller is urgently called to the palace to interpret the dream.

Many poor people in Egypt did not foresee the famine. Think how much more difficult it would have been for Joseph, who was in prison. All of the poor and vulnerable people, like Joseph, could not foresee the devastating food shortage, nor the death of thousands of people that would result from it. But through Pharaoh’s dream, the disaster was averted. Pharaoh discovered that answers to complicated issues can sometimes be found through simple people, like Joseph. He was a pitiful boy; picked from the pit, raised in slavery, and condemned to a prison. But against all odds he was brought to the palace to interpret Pharaoh’s dream. He laid out an amazing 14-year strategic plan. Though his plans may have seemed hard from a short-term perspective, he served the nation by making Egypt’s food secure. He also sustained the hungry masses of other nations.

“When the whole world is silent, even one voice becomes powerful,”’ says Malala Yousafzai, who was the youngest ever Nobel laureate when she won the prize, aged just 17, in 2014. Bravely, she blogged and spoke out against Taliban efforts to restrict education and stop girls from going to school. One day the Taliban stopped her bus, singled her out and shot her with a single bullet which went through her head, neck and shoulder. Miraculously, she survived and continues to be an influential voice for girls’ education.

As we journey through this year, may the rulers of this world realize that the answers to the world’s problems could be in and with simple people. Giving a voice to the poor and seeking answers from those who do not seem to count, may bring the solutions we need. Whose voice should be listened to? Is it the strong and powerful? Or is it the voice of the weak and poor?

Response: Think about the ones whose stories we should all listen to; whose stories need to be told.