CHARLENE'S TUMBLR

Who are we as agents of change?

Sorry, no cool links on this post - just some thoughts.  How many times have you tried to do something fabulous only to fall on your face?  I have a bunch of times.  It seems that the harder you try, the harder it is to get it done.  Are we trying too hard?  Maybe.  I work with an organization that I’ve mentioned before - Global Citizens Network in St. Paul, MN.  My job is to take families to Central America and help the residents complete some project that they have identified as important.  A portion of the fees that people pay to go on the trip is donated to the community to pay for the project.  Our team works along side the residents to complete the project.

Prior to becoming involved with GCN I only thought about people and places like the villages that we visit. My connection was through the news media and National Geographic films. Being there, not as a tourist, but as a member of the community, is quite a different thing. It compels you to think about how most of the world lives and to do something about it.  

Going to Central America in that capacity changed my reason for education. I went from worrying about whether really smart kids were being taught the right kind of math (still a worthy goal) to whether kids in these countries could even go to school at all.  I worry about the trash problem in the villages where there is no sanitation, trash pick up, or clean water and whether kids get too sick to go to school.  

That concern translate to my own community.  What happens to our kids who live in poverty? How can their skills and talents be recognized? How can they exploit those talents to better their own lives? And once that happens, how can we make them accountable for their success so that they give back?

If you change only one life, are you an agent of change? If you go around planting seeds, are you an agent of change?  If you change only your own outlook, are you an agent of change?  How “successful” do you have to be to make a difference in the world?

Lots of questions.  As Bob Dylan said, “the answer is blowing in the wind.”