Thoughts on today...

I am currently sitting in my University library with a few of my friends and listening to some of the conversations happening around me (yes I am one of those people who listens to other people's conversations) and I am shocked and slightly disturbed by what I hear. You would think in a university there would be some people who care about the world around them and other people besides themselves and the cast of Jersey Shore. I don't know if I am feeling this way because I am sensitive to the world around me and am deeply concerned about world issues, or because I am in a slightly grumpy mood today but I want to turn around and smack the people who are complaining about how much their lives suck because they have a lot of studying to do and they have to work tonight. At least you have a job! At least you have the right to go to school and the resources to support a post secondary education! There are so many people in this world who would give anything to have a job and an education. I hope that I am not the only person (and I doubt I am) that is upset by these sorts of remarks. Some people just don't know/understand/care how good they have it. Compared to a lot of the world even the poorest Canadian has it pretty good. There are things like public health care, education, and social services that can help the poorest of the poor in Canada. I hope that my generation and all future generations will take action towards fixing world issues instead of just complaining about how hard they think their life is. I am thankful that I live where I do and I make sure to try and show my appreciation for all that I have and all I have been blessed with but I am not perfect. I do sometimes complain about things and I just have to take a step out of myself and go back to my thankfulness and appreciation for the life I have and accept the responsibility I have as a global citizen to take care of and help the people in my community and beyond.

Rant ended.

Thanks for putting up with this,
Shannon

Promise Video

I skipped a week... oops. I will just have to do 2 posts this week. The video underneath this is an idea I had as soon as I found out I was going to the Young Women's World Forum and I think it is really cool because even though we all speak different languages and have different promises we all have them same goals and ideals to be achieved. I hope you enjoy and I want to thank all of the young women in this video for allowing me to pester them to get their promise!

First Presentation

This week I gave my first (very brief!) presentation to my Area council. Overall I think it was well received, but I feel like it was only the beginning of something that is going to grow and grow over time. My favourite part of doing the presentation was showing the video of the promises from around the world. Although it wasn't too hard to edit together I was very glad that it turned out the way it did in my mind. I am pretty sure that this is the first time that something has successfully transferred from my head to the real world. Anyways I hope that I inspired a few people to learn more about the Millennium Development Goals and take action towards accomplishing them. I know that my drive for change has increased exponentially since I actually started presentations. I hope that university doesn't get in the way of my projects, I am sure it will be fine but you never know. This is very short, but I don't have anything to say so that's all for now.
Until next time,
Shannon

A New Year is a Time for Change!

Today is the day that my journey towards helping accomplish the Millennium Development Goals. Now that it is 2011 it means that there are only four years left! That scares me a little bit because the past ten years did not see much progress in the successful completion of the MDGs. After the conference I was so inspired and excited to get started on projects and presentations about my experiences and what I wanted to do towards the MDGs, but then real life got really busy and changing the world fell on my priority list. That sounds awful, but the things I was doing were very exciting! I started my teaching career with a bang as I did my first round of student teaching. Now that it is the new year full of exciting opportunities, experiences, and promise I want to get started right away on my projects. In the silly tradition of New Years resolutions I have a few that I would like to share with everyone (if anyone even sees this...)

1) Create a presentation that I can give to Girl Guides, the general public, and family and friends.

I want to make an impact on people and hopefully inspire them to take action and make a difference. I want to stress that the smallest of actions can change things and I like to share the almost cliched story about starfish.

One day a man was walking along the beach when he noticed a boy picking something up and gently throwing it into the ocean. 

Approaching the boy, he asked, “What are you doing?”

The boy said, “Throwing starfish back into the ocean. The surf is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them back, they’ll die.”

“Don’t you realize there are miles and miles of beach and hundreds of starfish? You can’t make a difference!”

After listening politely to the man, the boy bent down, picked up another starfish,
and threw it back into the surf.  Then, smiling at the man, he said "I made a difference for that one .”

 

2) Give at least 5 of these presentations within the year.

I hope that I am able to seek out opportunities to give speeches and show videos about both the Young Women's World Forum and the Millennium Development Goals. I hope that by showing I did something that seems impossible or highly unlikely others, especially young girls, will want to do similar things in their future as a Girl Guide or in another situation.

3) Create a five year plan for what I want to accomplish and who I want to help.

I am a big believer in planning for success and I really like having a written record of what I want to do so I can compare it to what I have done. I have chosen a five year deadline so I can work hard for the next four years to the deadline for the MDGs plus an extra year to finish off any projects I started.

4) Have fun with and learn a lot from others who have the same goals as me.

By staying in contact with others from the Forum and people in other organizations I will have both a support system and a team to work on projects with.

5) Update this blog at least once a week to record my progress and keep others updated on how I am doing.

I want to spread awareness about the cause and social media seems to be the way to go. I may even start a YouTube channel later on once I get some of the projects rolling. 

That's all I have to say for right now so I wish everyone a very happy New Year and I look forward to this grand adventure. 

Until next time,
Shannon