Jaded.

Day after day I am bombarded with news about wars raging, violence ensuing, natural resources depleting and crises destroying lives of millions of people. I sit on the metro, tears welling in my eyes, feeling so small in a world that is consumed by distress. I stay up late nights making sketches of solutions to these problems consistently met with challenges; lack of resources, connections, people, and mostly, time. How do you effect change if you are just one single person in a sea of thousands?

1. Recognize that the hero’s of our world didn’t get there by chance. They didn’t make a name for themselves by passively sitting down and waiting for the next big thing to happen. Maybe there was a stroke of luck, but they rose to the challenge. They saw an opportunity and they chased it. I am inspired by those people who recognize an issue, understand that they are only one person, but work to mobilize groups – sometimes thousands – for a cause they believe in. You might only be one person, but you are one person with a voice.
2. Set yourself aside. The human mind only has a capacity to empathize with a select population of people, but empathy can also be created and bred through experience. It is easier said than done to pick up your life and go move to a place where you can experience poverty, turmoil and conflict. I’m not asking you to do that. Instead, think about what people in these situations are feeling. Try to imagine what it would feel like to come home to a house where your family was victim to a chemical weapons attack… you step over the bodies of the people you love most in this world, realizing with each passing moment that every single one of them is dead. Put yourself in the shoes of a rebel fighter struggling with every thing that he or she has for a peace that they may never know. Picture yourself walking for days to seek refuge in a neighboring country with a single bag of belongings, knowing that you may never be able to return home. The process of learning to empathize will create a deep passion to bring about change that will continue to motivate in the toughest times.
3. Understand that the news is subjective. As consumers of the media, we have a responsibility to deduce truth, and form opinion based on our most objective interpretation. The goal of the media is to solicit a response – whether negatively or positively – to a situation. And while we like to think that the news is entirely objective, like any private corporation, these agencies need to stay in business which means they have to “sell” the news. Stop and think about it. The day that the Washington Post reported that a drought was killing and displacing thousands of people in Somalia, Casey Anthony was on the front page*. This should tell you something about the priorities of the news.
4. Finally, BELIEVE THAT YOU CAN. The thought of becoming jaded horrifies me, which is why I will continue to write blogs like this to remind myself that we are all capable of perpetuating good in this world. If we all became cynical about our ability to create change, no one would ever get anything done. There are millions of people who work long days and dedicate their lives to making the world a better place. To those individuals, I solute you.

If you take away one thing from this message, it is that you have great opportunity to make a difference. You can be the change. You can be the inspiration. The hope. The reminder of good. The positive light in the darkest places. Don’t ever forget that…