"I want it now," the former Abilene mayor said in her keynote address at the Martin Luther King Jr. tribute.
But she learned that it takes patience, perseverance, courage, faith and other superlatives to make a difference.
Nearly 100 people gathered for the yearly celebration that was flavored by performances from young people, lively music and inspirational speeches.
Change doesn't necessarily occur because you attend a service like the one Sunday in north Salina, Bailey-Mason said, or sing in the choir.
"Embrace change, one encounter at a time," she said. "Be the agent of change."
Bailey-Mason was among a number of speakers who trained the focus on young people to carry on the dreams of Martin Luther King Jr., the beloved 1960s civil rights leader, whose 84th birthday was Tuesday.
Among them were Damion Cooper, a senior soccer and basketball player at Salina Central High School, whose interpretative praise dance earned a standing ovation at the service. Capt. Darius Bridgeman of St. John's Military School asked the audience to imagine a world without hate and judgment where anyone can become the person they want.
"Basically, we would have a perfect world, more or less," Bridgeman said.
While he acknowledged that we all make mistakes, pushing for improvement is important.
"My challenge to you is to remain hopeful and faithful ... don't take the most popular path," Bridgeman said, and make the world what we thought it was like when we were young.
"Love everyone," he said.
After singing in the 35-member MLK Community Choir, directed by Ramona Newsom, Alex Botz, a seventh-grader at Lakewood Middle School, closed the performance by saying, "You have the power to change the world. I dare you do it."
Youths are vital "to keep this thing going ... so you don't have to ride in the back of the bus," the Rev. Kerry Broadus Sr. of Allen Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church, of Salina, said in his closing prayer.
"I think it's wonderful when we have young people with the courage to stand in their truth," Bailey-Mason said in her address.
Songs carried several messages: "If I can help somebody along the way, then my living shall not be in vain," Sandy Beverly of the Salina Human Relations Department, sang from the podium.
The service concluded as Eleanor Jones and Newsom led the audience -- holding hands with arms folded -- while singing "We Shall Overcome," a song associated with the Civil Rights movement.