This past Wednesday I had the privilege in attending We Day. It truly was a great experience as it packed in as much inspiration one could into one day. We day was about engaging highly motivated youth so that together, the children of today can be leaders in the present. We have all heard the phrase that children are the leaders of the future, however what Craig and Mark Kielburger, founders of the children’s charity Free the Children, wanted to emphasize was the fact that youth have the power and capability to change the world starting right now. There were many great speakers including Martin Sheen, Spence West, and Larry King. Many artists and musicians also came out to support the movement of “We”, such as Hedley, Marianas Trench, and Lights. We day really was something special and there are many ways for us youth to get involved. First and foremost as a member of Youth Central, I would suggest everyone wanting to make an impact and volunteer to make the upmost use of this organization as it provides a great platform for youth to help others and meet new people. But a great way to get your school community involved is through the activities and fundraisers Free the Children conducts, as well as other organizations such as UNICEF, and World Vision.
However one thing I would like to talk about in this blog is an issue brought up by Larry King at We Day. Larry King had once asked Martin Luther King. Jr. what he believed to be a pressing issue in our world today. Martin Luther King Jr. answered with a simple but profound answer; prejudice. Pre-conceived notions have in the past and even today can be pointed to as the root of many conflicts. I came across this very interesting social experiment where a seventeen-year-old girl wore a hijab and went to the mall, after she heard her Muslim friend talk about being discriminated against on the basis of her clothing. I found that the results of this social experiment to be very unnerving and disappointing;
“Clerks usually ask us if we need help, tell us about sales, and smile at us. Not today. People, including vendors, clerks, and other shoppers, wouldn’t look at us. They didn’t talk to us. They acted like we didn’t exist. They didn’t want to be caught staring at us, so they didn’t look at all.
And then, in one store, a girl (who looked about four years old) asked her mom if my friend and I were terrorists. She wasn’t trying to be mean or anything. I don’t even think she could have grasped the idea of prejudice. However, her mother’s response is one I can never forgive or forget. The mother hushed her child, glared at me, and then took her daughter by the hand and led her out of the store. ”
What we see is that people are subconsciously making decision that aren’t morally or ethically correct. In the words of Martin Luther King Jr., “Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away, and that in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty” So how does the earlier preamble about We Day relate to the issue of prejudice? We Day, points to a solution. To change societal pre-conceptions, youth have to be the vanguards in building a global community. We have to develop a community in which it transcends all cultural differences to develop a world perspective. And the best way to do so, is by volunteering and giving to others, both locally and globally. When the Masai warriors of Kenya came out on We Day to thank Free the Children and other Charities for their contributions, a bond was forged, which truly did look past the disparities and differences and instead emphasized key characteristics of simply being human.