The presentations over the last two days reflected vividly the careful research, detailed discussion, emotional commitment, creative thinking, sense of humor, and hard work each group brought to its efforts. All of us who attended from Putney left knowing that the idea that we hatched four years ago for a new kind of program has been nurtured and expanded far beyond our most optimistic hopes at that time.
We are confident that the past month marks just the first step for participants in a long-term commitment to assisting with positive change in a challenging situation that engages them. The beginning is now over, and determining the next step can be a challenge.
Diego Merino, the program director, provided excellent guidance for future action in his summary speech. We have included it below because we feel that it provides a helpful road map for the days, months, and years ahead.
Thank you to everyone who played a part in the success of this summer's programs!
Jeff and Pete Shumlin
The Putney Barn
GAIA Closing Address
Less than two months ago, your leaders and I sat in the Putney barn reading your application essays. Over and over, you expressed a desire, a drive to learn about other realities very different from your own, to understand them, to give something of yourself to others, to grow as human beings, to broaden your global awareness, your understanding of your world, and your compassion for others.
Then one month ago, I stood up in front of all you and asked you to spend the next month asking some simply stated, but very hard questions:
- What is actually happening in the world? What are the realities of life for the rest of our human family around the world?
- What do we, as youth and as Americans, have to do with those realities?
- Is the world the way that it should be?
- If not, how should it change?
- And if it should change, what should we do to make that change a reality?
These presentations are an opportunity for you to pause and take stock of what you have learned, how you have changed…and also to look ahead to the future, to start developing an answer to the last question I mentioned, the hardest one of all: what should we do to make real the changes we want to see in the world? Of course, I cannot answer this question for you, but I can offer a few thoughts that I hope will help you as you continue to grapple with the questions.
First: this summer, you have been given very important gifts, by your leaders, your new friends, and most of all by the people and communities you had the privilege to meet, make friends with, and learn from. Gifts of new awareness and perspective on yourselves and your place in the world. Honor those gifts by dedicating yourself to learning more, asking more questions, trying your best to understand the reality of the world we're all a part of. As one of you expressed today, as a result of the experiences you've had this summer, you have incurred obligations now that you didn't have before. Your awareness of some of the deep injustices in the world incurs in you the responsibility to do what you can to address them.
Second: in my address to you during the first Yale session, I used the metaphor of a giant, tangled ball of string to represent the tightly wound, inseparable challenges facing the communities and societies where you visited - and our own communities and society. How do we start to address such complex problems? By recognizing one little end sticking out of the ball of string - one issue that captured your interest, that you wanted to learn about, that moved a feeling in you. Your personal end of the string might be the realization of the barriers that people living with HIV/AIDS face to access treatment; it might be the understanding of how women and girls are subtly or overtly excluded from power and decision-making in everything from community politics to sex to control over resources; it might be the knowledge that among Western countries, ours, the wealthiest, is #1 in incarcerations but dead last in providing health care to our children; it might be an awareness of some ugly and unpleasant truths about the United States' longtime support for repressive governments around the world; it could be knowing that from Chile to China, ethnic or religious minorities are targeted by national governments for persecution; or it could be any one of thousands of other issues and insights. For me personally, it was understanding how we continue to allow poor, Black and Latino children to receive an appallingly deficient and usually segregated education here in this country.
Whatever the string that makes sense to you, you must grab onto it and start untangling, by learning more, getting organized together with others, and always asking more questions. In fact, this is how most activists working to make the world a better place begin, believing they are fighting for a specific cause and realizing later they are fighting for a greater purpose. Chico Mendes, a great Brazilian environmental justice activist, said of this process: "At first I thought I was fighting to save rubber trees, then I thought I was fighting to save the Amazon rainforest. Now I realize I am fighting for humanity."
Third: there is a movement without a name growing all around the world, and each of you glimpsed a tiny little slice of it. With a million different voices, what it is calling for are two huge changes in our way of life: how we treat our fellow human beings - a just society - and how we treat the Earth - a healthy environment. These are really two sides of the same coin, because when we harm one, we harm the other. This movement has no central direction, has many leaders but no Leader, is built on ideas instead of ideology, and is rapidly adapting and growing every day to meet the gravest challenges we face together on the planet. Each one of you has talked about NGOs and community groups that you met who inspired you by their commitment and dedication to building a better world. By the best estimates, there are between one and two million nongovernmental organizations in the world dedicated to healing our societies and our environment. This movement is far too large for any one person to understand, but there is a helpful framework for thinking about it.
Remember the Gaia hypothesis, the idea that the entire planet is a living organism, and that each individual, species and ecosystem has a special and irreplaceable role within her? Well, thinking about the biological systems of the body provides us with a very interesting metaphor to help us conceptualize today's global movements for social justice and ecological sustainability. I suggest to you that the best way to imagine this global movement that you've just tasted a bit of is that it is Gaia's immune system, fighting to repel, contain, and heal the social and environmental diseases affecting her - and affecting us. Every NGO and community group you visited is like one white blood cell in this global system. It's an inspiring thought to reflect on how many people and organizations are dedicating to building solutions to our problems. As we know, the problems of poverty, political corruption, environmental degradation, inequality, disease and so on are entrenched and very powerful. But we have to remember that they are problems we created, and that also means that we can solve them. We must solve them, urgently, because what's at stake is our continued existence on our fragile little spaceship of a home.
Fourth: the hardest question of all: but what about me? So what do I do now? We've already heard some exciting answers from you, but ahead you have the challenge of sustaining your new energy and bringing new commitments into the rest of your lives. Remember, every positive change at every level is needed and valuable. But I especially encourage you to look close to home for how you can make changes in your schools, your families, your communities, and the organizations of all kinds that you're part of. If your school has an environmental and a human rights club, join them. You could start a campaign to make sure all your school uniforms are produced sweat-shop free or for your school to purchase Fair Trade coffee and tea. If those clubs don't exist, found one. If your church, synagogue, mosque, or temple is moved by the awareness of the genocide happening now in Darfur, you can reach out to one of the many organizations working on the advocacy and education campaign to end the genocide. If this trip raised your awareness about issues of poverty, health, education and nutrition, try volunteering in a school or a health clinic in a low-income neighborhood near you. As Kaytee and Abda spoke to you about yesterday, you can DO X, DO Y, DO Z. What you find there may shock and move you as much as the poverty you saw in Asia, Africa, or Central America. Whatever you're going to do, do something. If you're not ready to take the step yet now, and it is fine if you're not, I hope you'll keep thinking about this experience in your heads and in your hearts. Whenever each of you are ready to take this step, there are resources and mentors all around you to help you along the way.
Fifth, and last: speaking of resources that you can draw on - stay connected to each other. I hope your relationships will continue with each other not only as friendships, but as a network of support, encouragement and collaboration as each of you go forward. You will find it hard to communicate the entirety of the experiences you've had to others who weren't there; so draw on the people who shared them with you. Be there for each other to share not only your plans and projects, but your doubts and insecurities. It's never easy. There are no single right answers, as we try to make a better world. You'll need each other.
Once again, thank you and congratulations on your experiences. It has been a tremendous privilege to be part of this program once again. Without further ado, it's my pleasure to hand over the floor to our final presentation. Thank you.
