We all know that liking that post with the starving kid
picture isn’t going to do anything. We live in a world generous with their
clicks but stingy with their actions. Our society is contaminated and consumed
by the apathetic. Right?
Wrong.
And honestly, up until a few days ago, I really believed
that. People would like or share a post, do their “part” and then go back to
creeping their exes. We couldn’t and wouldn’t make a real impact on anything. And I’m sure many of you still believe
that.
But then things changed for me.
It was around midnight and I was laying in my tiny bed on
the second floor on my camp’s administration building. I was doing my nightly
check of my news feed on my phone when I stumbled upon a Live Different post.
It read:
“Lisa Kristine: Photos that bear witness to modern day
slavery”
As a social-justice and photography enthusiast, I thought
I’d watch the first few minutes before going to sleep. Before I knew it the
twenty-minute video was done and I was in tears. Her talk and images moved me
and demanded action. And so, at around two in the morning, I was finishing up a
lesson plan for a social justice workshop.
Still strung up on my motivation, I proposed the workshop to
one of the camp’s directors the following morning. Much to my dismay, she had
me run the workshop just hours after I suggested it. The hour-long workshop
featured the very video I watched the night before, and a half-hour discussion.
I wanted the teens to process this information in a constructive way (not with
guilt, anger, or helplessness) and we brainstormed ways that we could make a
difference in the short and long term. The final touch was a Slavery Footprint
quiz, which gave each participant an estimate of how many slaves they have had
working for them from their purchases and consumption patterns. It let them see
their direct impact in the modern-day slave trade.
Fortunately the workshop really resonated with teens. They
all seemed teeming with ideas and in that moment I was sure we’d make an
impact. And week after week the camp directors allowed me to present my
workshop to the teenagers. I managed to reach out to over one hundred youth
this summer. In turn, they inspired me.
It’s not very often that one has the opportunity to see
their effect on people, and I’m blessed to have had a glimpse into my
workshop’s impact. Weeks after camp ended I received a text message and a phone
call from one of my campers. He liked the video I showed and wanted to do a
presentation on it for his class. What surprised me was that he was genuinely
moved enough to follow through on his action plan weeks after the workshop. I
actually made a difference in his perspective of the world, and he was going to
change that for his peers. The ripple was in full effect. And all because of
one click.
Lots of love,
Meagan <3
