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Feb 09, 2010 | Categories: Blog | Comments

I’m not trying to change the world

I have been busy doing stuff offline in the last few weeks. They include: graduating from university , moving back home to Toronto from Waterloo, saying goodbye to my parents since I won’t see them again until August, driving my brother to and from school everyday, meeting old and new friends and having too much coffee, and…. reading for pleasure!

This last term has definitely been the best term in my entire university life. The things I learned and the people I met have really pushed me down the path I will be embarking on from this moment on. As I was reflecting and trying to let everything sink in, the more and more I realize how much my thinking has been shifted after reading the Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire .

I had to read that book for the Beyond Borders class, wrote an essay exam on it over the Christmas break, and have written several blog entries related to the book over the last term while volunteering at The Working Centre. Yet, I feel it has impacted me much further that I have become a lot more conscious when using phrases such as “helping poor people”, “inspiring others” or “changing the world”. I noticed how I was getting more and more unwilling to say/write those words and uncomfortable with the idea that we seem to unconsciously put ourselves in a “better class” than others sometimes.

I don’t feel that I’m going out there to “help the poor people”. I just want to be together with them, allow us to understand and learn from each other, and build real human connections. I don’t feel that I’m doing what I’m doing to “inspire others”. I just want people to know that if I, as one person, with no special talents nor 72 hours a day, could potentially make a difference in both a good or bad way through every action that I take, everyone could. Finally, I don’t feel that I’m trying to “change the world”. “Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.” I simply think it’s a duty of care , an obligation, a responsibility.

I’m idealistic? Maybe? But I don’t think I am. We’re faced with a lot of pressing societal issues today, but the thing is, there has been issues since the dawn of time. We’re not the first generation having to deal with problems of the world. Plus, everything is a cycle – we solve climate change now, another problem will already be waiting for us. But that’s the nature, no? As much as selfishness and greed are part of human nature, so are selflessness and sympathy. We need to take care of one another.

So instead of thinking how we can or can’t change the world, I am choosing to focus on making sure my everyday actions reflect conscious care, leaving the world a little better than it was yesterday and life a little easier for people that I love. Nothing extraordinary, just that. Simple, no?

May 03, 2009 | Categories: Blog, Writing On What Matters | Comments

YouthBuild: Re-building lives

A few weeks ago, I posted a video on Women’s Bean Project , a non-profit that employs chronically unemployed and impoverished women to make packaged products, and putting them in a program so they learn life skills that will allow them to find permanent job and become self-sufficient.

Tonight I came across another empowerment project. Dorothy Stoneman, a Skoll Uncommon Heros, started YouthBuild to create a positive future for low-income young people. By re-enrolling them in alternative schools where they complete high school and build affordable homes for their neighbors, they’re given the opportunity to transform their own lives.

Stories like this keep me going. Being there to make things a little easier for each other, isn’t that what life is all about?

Apr 12, 2009 | Categories: Blog, Featured Agents of Change, Uncategorized | Comments

A call for leadership, for the sake of the world

One of my favorite bloggers on this entire planet is Akhila Kolisetty. I know, you guys have heard about her already. But she really is awesome and I find myself bringing her name/her blog up a lot. Anyways, last week she invited me to write a guest post for her blog, so I spent many many hours writing something that I have always wanted to tell the world.

Here’s a preview…

“….Then I discovered Brazen Careerist earlier this year and the talents I saw around me grew exponentially…. I can’t help but wonder, how much good they could do for the world if they were willing to devote more time in building solutions for the betterment of the world…. sometimes I feel we are all living in this bubble… How often do we actually get right down to being fully present with the people and try to understand what they’re going through? I think we prioritize weird… I know people care….Legacy isn’t defined by the size of your company, it’s by the number of lives you have truly touched and made a difference in… What about trying the 80/20 Google rule? So many talented people with so much to offer. We need a better way to harness the creativity and talent we have in the Gen Y blogsphere to create social change and push for a better world. Why is it not happening?”

We’re having some great discussions in the comments, would you like to join? Go here.

Apr 10, 2009 | Categories: Blog, Uncategorized, Writing On What Matters | Comments

Agents of Change Pt.3

In the last 2 posts of “Agents of Change”, I have featured individuals who will all be traveling this summer to somewhere far away from home. However, one of the most important things I have learned this year is that we don’t always need to go far. There are Agents of Change who are making differences everyday, in their own ways, in their very own communities.

Grace Boyle (Blog: Small Hands, Big Ideas Twitter: @gracekboyle)
Grace is the source of a lot of my inspirations. When I first discovered her blog, I spent the whole night going through all the entries, amazed by her creativity, energy and sincerity. She is an amazing person that knows what she wants in life, driven by the right values and caring about the right things . She’s busy and involved – having two blog/online projects on top of her full-time job, working with Ladies Who Launch, helping her mother market her women’s retreat to Italy, and attending meetups. On her blog, you can read about the “What Inspires You” series, her “A Photo A Day” project , and everything else that she finds interesting or touching in life. Grace loves connecting with people in the most authentic sense and if it wasn’t for her who reached out to me, I wouldn’t have met the many other amazing people that I know now as well. My words can’t do her/her blog justice – go read it yourself.

Fion Ho (Blog: Everyday Living… Twitter: @fionho)
Fion is one of my closest girlfriends and I’ve come to know her intimately over the years. She is one passionate girl with a burning fire buried deep inside in her heart. She also believes that greatness is everywhere and we just need to pause and believe in it. Currently doing her Master of Environmental Studies, she specializes in urban planning and aspire to (re)build communities to help connect individuals. Involved with Big Brother Big Sister, she spends lunch with Kayla, a 9-year-old, every Tuesday. Fion has recently renovated her blog, decided to live the life she wants to live, and for the first time, stepping out of her comfort zone and being excited about the unknowns . Let’s wish her all the best as she finishes her master thesis, looking for opportunities to teach English in China, and making big jumps for her bright future.

Eudora Lee (Blog: Dreams Work Twitter: @euds)
Eudora is one of the most resilient girls I know. You won’t always find optimism in her blog, occasionally she complains and gets mad, but it guarantees nothing but authenticity and honesty. I knew her since high school, and I love her for always saying what needs to be said without wasting time worrying what others will think of her. Finishing her Master in Education, she believes that “Education without love is merely a lengthy instruction; without wisdom, propaganda; without hope, a history; without example, a joke.” Eudora currently teaches English through drama in Hong Kong. She’s definitely an important role model for these young girls she teaches and I like that she’s showing them there are more important things than being pretty and popular. For the rest of the year, she will be working on other community projects, using drama to teach, to heal, and to inspire. Oh, and she told me she wants to publish a book and change the world.

This concludes my “Agents of Change” series for now. The take-home message is that if you want to see change, you must be change. The good news is, there aren’t rules – just be yourself, do what you can do, read and talk to people, find your passion, try your best everyday, then repeat that the next day. Remember, we all have a lit candle and it’s our job to spread it. I imagine a part 4 to this series as I meet more new people or convince more Agents of Change to blog, whichever happens first. Thank you for reading. =)

Apr 08, 2009 | Categories: Blog, Featured Agents of Change | Comments