in 1987, i joined the Model United Nations club at my school (james blair junior high school) and represented Nepal in my very first conference. i was in the social and humanitarian segment of the competition (third committee?) and i remember learning about two things that year that blew my mind.
first, there was this thing called “terrorism” where people (not states?!?) attacked other countries. second, there was a guy named nelson mandela who was fighting against something called “apartheid,” a policy that (to my 7th grade mind) seemed about 100 years out of step with the rest of the planet.
i didn’t do anything worth mentioning during that conference — i was so, so incredibly confused — but I think it’s safe to say that Mr. Mandela was the first public figure to teach me that the world could be a better place if we just fought for what we believe in.
i’ll never be a Mandela, or a Gorbachev, or even a James Baker, but hopefully i’ll be able to make the ocean a little better, children a little safer, the climate a little more stable — and give my kids just a little less work to do to clean up our mess when they grow up.
first, there was this thing called “terrorism” where people (not states?!?) attacked other countries. second, there was a guy named nelson mandela who was fighting against something called “apartheid,” a policy that (to my 7th grade mind) seemed about 100 years out of step with the rest of the planet.
i didn’t do anything worth mentioning during that conference — i was so, so incredibly confused — but I think it’s safe to say that Mr. Mandela was the first public figure to teach me that the world could be a better place if we just fought for what we believe in.
i’ll never be a Mandela, or a Gorbachev, or even a James Baker, but hopefully i’ll be able to make the ocean a little better, children a little safer, the climate a little more stable — and give my kids just a little less work to do to clean up our mess when they grow up.
if only.