I just got back from President Bill Clinton's lecture, which was a very inspiring and eye-opening experience. I am so glad I was lucky enough to get a ticket. His main objective was just as the title of the talk describes, how the private citizen might turn his or her good intentions into action. The main conduit would be through non-governmental organizations (NGO), ones you may know include the Red Cross, World Vision, and Amnesty International. These groups have grown tremendously around the world and seem to be able to effect a lot of positive change while creating low profit margins.
Clinton's three problems of the modern, interconnected world are:
1. IT IS TOO UNEVEN. Both between rich and poor countries and within a single country.
2. IT IS HIGHLY UNSTABLE. Financial collapse rippled through the world. The instant communication available to terrorists.
3. ITS PRODUCTION/CONSUMPTION OF ENERGY IS UNSUSTAINABLE. This is a fact, now stop bickering.
Keeping those in mind, he also talked about the rise of communitarianism, the idea that after recognizing the interdependent world, we have to share the responsibilities or pay the price. No matter what political affiliation you have, communitarianism applies in today's society.
One of my major takeaways was when the President said, "We all major in the minors instead of majoring in the major." Given the university setting, the context was obviously appropriate, but what he meant was these global issues seem to be on all our minds. But they are like a second thought, a supplement to whatever we deem as most important. It's time to forget that mentality and consider the world's challenges as THE problem. The role of the private citizen is to participate in some way -- whatever way and with whatever skills and resources he or she has -- in the NGO revolution. Because governments can only do so much. But he stressed that does not render the government secondary or useless in anyway. His justification? Not enough time to go there during the talk, but I'll believe him.
We live in a great time. Back when he was elected President, there were just 50 websites on the internet and the average cell phone weighed five pounds. With the technological revolution, comes both challenges and opportunities. The problem is the spread of a mass media not out to inform but to upset and unsettle, and thus render its viewers dysfunctional in the face of the world's issues. But here is also a chance to integrate and innovate to create better, cheaper products and services, and in turn, more jobs.
Here is the U.S., three major areas needing reform are health care, education, and energy. In all these cases, and I won't go into detail about the stats Clinton discussed, the major obstacle to change is, simply, a rigidity. An unwillingness to change because what's here is already established. We need to move past this stubbornness. It's not that we don't have the capacity -- we simply don't want to go there. And so it is the same in wealthy nations like ours. But it is the opposite in poor countries like Haiti. Those people have all the ability just as we do to change their state of life. But they lack the structural capacity that we are blessed with and refuse to use.
Look. The major public health issue in America is childhood obesity. The major issue in Haiti is basic sanitation. The difference is clear. We have the resources and the structure, yet we are applying them inefficiently in our health care system. How else are we ranked so low on overall health? Why can't we adopt preventative measures to combat a thing like obesity? Haiti, on the other hand, wants to help its citizens but cannot without the aid of other nations. It has a more pressing, but in a strange sense, more straightforward problem to solve than we do. (I'm not saying it's easy, however). They need funds and organization. We need to get over the establishment and revolutionize out existing system.
So whether we are confronting our own challenges in the U.S. or those of third world countries abroad, we must always keep a few things in mind: how the world is connected, the gravity of those challenges, the context of those challenges, the importance of a willingness to change.
My friend Nisha is traveling to Honduras to improve medical conditions there, and she totally exemplifies what Clinton said. She is turning her intent into action. And she should be so proud of it. I only hope I will be as proactive as she and be able to attend a service trip in the near future. For now, I need to go find myself a worthy cause in Berkeley to commit to.
Photos dailycal.com
