So, yes, I know it’s a little late (procrastination at its finest!), but to all those reading this blog post – Happy New Year!
Last Saturday, I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to be part of the organization of the Youth Caucus for the Calgary Womxn Taking Strides Event. I’ve been involved in the Calgary Women’s March for a few years now in different capacities. This year for the first time, after the March, an indoor event was held at the Calgary Public Library. The Calgary Womxn Taking Strides Event included a resource fair in the atrium with different local women serving organizations and a variety of programming happening in different areas of the library featuring speakers, performers, and musicians – all catered towards different groups of Calgary women, and all organized by local community leaders.
The Youth Caucus part of the afternoon took place on the 3rd Floor of the Central Library in the Teen Section. This was honestly a wonderful venue, as the Calgary Central Library is almost the definition of a place of community building (with more than two million visits since its opening!) People wandered in and out, and regular patrons of the library stopped by to see what was happening. We heard nine short Pecha Kucha style talks from inspiring Calgarian women who are working to make their communities better places, had fun with some dance and music, and were moved by youth slam poets.
Of course, there were lots of glitches here and there; and by the end of the afternoon, the audience was definitely not as large as we had hoped. But I think the people who did attend, even for just a short period of time, were inspired. I was able to connect with so many passionate Calgarians and definitely grew as a person. In my opinion, it was a successful way to start off my 2020!
It became evident that the success of this afternoon really was a testament to the strength of diverse people coming together to support, encourage, comfort, surprise, inspire, question, and even challenge one another; ultimately, all to make a difference, however big or small that difference may be. Whatever the situation may have been, the power of these types of actions have made my last year all the better.
As we are getting into the first few weeks of the new decade, we are all probably at different points in our lives. High school students are in the midst of or are finishing up January exams, some people may be at their personal best sticking to all their New Year’s resolutions, and others may be feeling the doom and gloom of this cold time of the year.
Whatever your situation may be, let’s all take this opportunity to reflect upon our collective strength. To walk into the new decade with the understanding that we are all small fish in a big pond, but each one of us (especially when we join forces) have the potential to move mountains.
I thought the following quote from Mother Teresa would be a good way to end off this sort-of-arbitrary-inspirationalish blog post filled with some of my random thoughts:
None of us including me ever do great things. But we can all do small things, with great love, and together we can do something wonderful.
-Mother Teresa
Here’s to a new decade filled with a greater understanding of one another, genuine connection, peace, and love!
Image Sources: Featured/1 (Photo Credit to Jon Yee)/2
