2008 Woodie Awards
Commentary: World weighs shoulders of students
Issue date: 4/11/07 Section: Editorial
- Page 1 of 1
Does anyone else feel like the weight of the world is on their shoulders? The genocide in Darfur, global warming, the spread of HIV/AIDS, the continued rise of youth violence and homicide rates, the war in Iraq, sex trafficking and the list goes on. Doesn't anyone seriously want change?
Yes, humanity has been around for quite some time, but every day it seems we mess up more and more things. And to top it off, any time you turn on the TV all you hear about is this murderer or that rapist and the death toll in Iraq, followed by American Idol or Grey's Anatomy. Is that our way of dealing with the atrocities of the world, by letting ourselves get sucked into a society where everything seems like just another TV show?
It's almost as if someone from above keeps whispering, "Don't worry, everything is ok, just turn your iPod back on, put on your sunglasses, read your newspaper, check your Facebook wall postings and when the weekend comes, drink yourself to oblivion." How much longer can humanity stay ignorant before we have to deal with the realities of today, not tomorrow? Isn't this life about survival?
When I step back and look at the big picture, it seems as if we've lost sight of that fact. There are some people out there working toward change in non-governmental organizations, medicine, U.N. peacekeeping missions … and isn't that why many of us come to college, to find ways to help out and work toward change? But instead of using college as a true learning experience, as a time to come together with people from around the world to discuss global problems and find solutions to them, we all get stuck doing countless hours of homework, writing term papers and taking Scantron tests. What ever happened to being creative and working together with people to find answers and learn from actual experience? By the time graduation comes and we are ready to enter the "real world," what world are we really ready for? I guess that's the time to become part of the global machine, but who's checking the engine? Who is stepping back and looking at humanity as a whole, reminding us that we need to keep the engine running together?
The more I think about it, the more I realize this isn't a task for just one person. This is something we need to do together. Together we need to find the roots of these global problems and work on eliminating them, not just cut off the branches because they keep growing back. In a country and society that spends billions of dollars on war and thousands of dollars on peace, I suppose this isn't an easy task, but anything worth doing isn't easy, and the hard part is fun. As cliché as it sounds, I want to work toward a better tomorrow. I don't want to think about it, pretend like I'm doing something, try to find a quick fix for the future or start a hippie peace movement. I want to come together with people to share experiences, talk about what's going on in the world today, find answers and implement solutions.
Humanity has been around for thousands of years; the answers for a better, more peaceful, more sustainable tomorrow are already out there, we just have to ask questions and actually come together to find solutions that work. Most importantly, we have to do this from the heart, because if we don't care, then is anything going to really work? I have two years left here at Northeastern and I want to come together with people to build community and find answers to global "problems." So if you want to talk about any of this, or life in general and how we can bring people and communities together to work toward a better tomorrow, talk to me in class or stop me on campus to chat for a bit. Let's bring our campus community together to have some fun and work toward social change. The place to do this is here, the time is now.
- Alex Alvanos is a middler international affairs major and president of Peace Games Through Social Change.
Yes, humanity has been around for quite some time, but every day it seems we mess up more and more things. And to top it off, any time you turn on the TV all you hear about is this murderer or that rapist and the death toll in Iraq, followed by American Idol or Grey's Anatomy. Is that our way of dealing with the atrocities of the world, by letting ourselves get sucked into a society where everything seems like just another TV show?
It's almost as if someone from above keeps whispering, "Don't worry, everything is ok, just turn your iPod back on, put on your sunglasses, read your newspaper, check your Facebook wall postings and when the weekend comes, drink yourself to oblivion." How much longer can humanity stay ignorant before we have to deal with the realities of today, not tomorrow? Isn't this life about survival?
When I step back and look at the big picture, it seems as if we've lost sight of that fact. There are some people out there working toward change in non-governmental organizations, medicine, U.N. peacekeeping missions … and isn't that why many of us come to college, to find ways to help out and work toward change? But instead of using college as a true learning experience, as a time to come together with people from around the world to discuss global problems and find solutions to them, we all get stuck doing countless hours of homework, writing term papers and taking Scantron tests. What ever happened to being creative and working together with people to find answers and learn from actual experience? By the time graduation comes and we are ready to enter the "real world," what world are we really ready for? I guess that's the time to become part of the global machine, but who's checking the engine? Who is stepping back and looking at humanity as a whole, reminding us that we need to keep the engine running together?
The more I think about it, the more I realize this isn't a task for just one person. This is something we need to do together. Together we need to find the roots of these global problems and work on eliminating them, not just cut off the branches because they keep growing back. In a country and society that spends billions of dollars on war and thousands of dollars on peace, I suppose this isn't an easy task, but anything worth doing isn't easy, and the hard part is fun. As cliché as it sounds, I want to work toward a better tomorrow. I don't want to think about it, pretend like I'm doing something, try to find a quick fix for the future or start a hippie peace movement. I want to come together with people to share experiences, talk about what's going on in the world today, find answers and implement solutions.
Humanity has been around for thousands of years; the answers for a better, more peaceful, more sustainable tomorrow are already out there, we just have to ask questions and actually come together to find solutions that work. Most importantly, we have to do this from the heart, because if we don't care, then is anything going to really work? I have two years left here at Northeastern and I want to come together with people to build community and find answers to global "problems." So if you want to talk about any of this, or life in general and how we can bring people and communities together to work toward a better tomorrow, talk to me in class or stop me on campus to chat for a bit. Let's bring our campus community together to have some fun and work toward social change. The place to do this is here, the time is now.
- Alex Alvanos is a middler international affairs major and president of Peace Games Through Social Change.
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