Paycheck or Service?

An article in the New York Times on June 23 entitled "Big Paycheck or Service? Students Are Put To Test" delves into the the world of top colleges and the consulting and financial jobs that follow and asks students to question where it is they want to go in life. A professor at Harvard has started leading reflection sessions to get undergraduates to think more about public service. There would appear a trend at Ivey league schools for students to head to wall street after graduation, which would seem peculiar since so many students go to school with the intentions of changing the world.

Is the lure of a large paycheck enough to stop people from pursuing their dreams and aspirations? The security? The fear of the unknown? What happens to the sense of adventure that so many young people possess? I watched the movie Accepted the other day and at the end of the movie one scene really strikes a chord with me. The only real professor at the school is leading a session where he says, "This is not your orientation; you have been oriented your entire life. This is your disorientation." Is that what school is? In my estimation I would say YES. It is a paradigm we exist in. The paradigm I have consistently said needs to be changed. The very method of thought orients everyone coming up through the school system to be brainwashed into thinking that a paycheck is the answer. Somehow we learn to believe that we can purchase our dreams and aspirations later if we abandon them now.

I am in this peculiar position right now where I have just finished school and am left to think about what is next. Do I go for the security of a job that I can certainly do but would rather not, or do I pursue what I have passion for, what I love? It isn't an easy question. Many of my friends now have jobs, are getting married, may soon start families, and here I am without even a job. It is too easy to follow the money, but there is this little voice inside my head and my heart telling me there is more awaiting me. What if my dreams and aspirations are within my power? What if I can change the world? I can't take the easy path until I know for sure. I have found myself disoriented from my disorientation but I trust I will eventually find my path. What about you, do you trust yourself enough to find yours?

Where The Hell Is Matt?

You may have already seen this video, Where the Hell Is Matt. Apparently it has been very popular, but somehow I missed it. What an awesome idea! A fun little dance move that people all around the world joined in on to create a video spanning the entire globe. Funny how something so small can bring people together.



I would just like to say the sponsor, Stride Gum, deserves a big thank you for making it happen.

Enough

This is a great resource for those of you who want to learn more about how to end genocide and crimes against humanity. It is called Enough Project and this is what it it has to say:

"ENOUGH was born out of frustration and hope.
We ran out of patience with the world's shameful lack of progress in combating terrible horrors. We knew there were many examples of successful conflict resolution processes throughout Africa, but the lessons weren’t widely known. We found confidence in the growing number of Americans who are demanding more aggressive, more successful solutions. And we have faith that we can end genocide and crimes against humanity once and for all.

We know that people care, but many assume that the crises in Africa and elsewhere are intractable. This inaccurate perception of futility sustains the killing of thousands and destroys the hopes of a safe and secure future for millions more. With every passing minute, the slaughter continues.

ENOUGH is a project of the Center for American Progress which aims to answer questions about what is really happening and offer a clear path to sustainable solutions. We were co-founded by CAP and the International Crisis Group in early 2007, setting out to establish a new paradigm for action.

We use in-depth knowledge to create clear, viable policy recommendations, and engage activists to apply pressure on the perpetrators and well-meaning governments whose own inertia prevents them from taking the steps necessary to stop genocide and crimes against humanity.

We shine a spotlight on policies that work. We aim to change the international conversation by demonstrating that progress is possible, and that rhetoric is meaningless without resolute, committed action. We are focusing currently on the situations in Congo, northern Uganda, Darfur, southern Sudan and the spillover violence in Chad.

We aim for real change to close the book on these horrible recurring chapters of human history."

Check it out. With the Olympics approaching there is going to be a lot of talk about human rights and if you want to be informed before the conversation starts this website is a great place to start and learn what is going on.

Global Lives Project

This idea is very 'balance on earth - esque'. It is called the Global Lives Project and this is the blurb on the website,

"Our goal is to record 24 hours in the lives of ten people that roughly represent the diversity of our planet's population. These ten lives will come together in an innovative video installation and form the basis of a collaborative online video encyclopedia of human life experiences."

I think they have hit the nail on the head with this one. Anything that aims to take people out of their own lives and let them see the world through the eyes of someone else is going to impact the viewer. One of the major issues confronting the progress the world can make is acceptance of diversity. To embrace difference is to embrace change - the biggest hurdle we face is change. We are a change adverse world, but if we can come to accept others we can accept that change will not destroy us. Instead it will bring us closer together, capable of taking on any challenge that lies ahead. (Global Warming, Conflict/War, Terrorism, Health Epidemics, etc.)

The more projects like this delve into the issue the more accepting we will all become. If you have an idea about how to increase our understanding of diversity, I would love to hear about it.

Amnesty International Olympic Ads

This series of ads is floating around in cyberspace. The ads have not been confirmed as actual ads by Amnesty but may have been created for them and not been approved yet. We shall see as the Olympics get closer what else will be in store. It is an exciting time to witness all that is occurring with human rights awareness and these are one of many examples that are popping up in reaction to China being host to the Olympics.

Greening Photography

I saw this the other day and thought I would share it. Not sure where the original comes from but I read it here on Boing Boing. A very interesting use of photography with grass as the medium. What can't you do with grass?

Miss Landmine

I was doing some research for a project I was doing on land mine awareness and I came across this great contest in Angola called Miss Landmine. It is held every year to help bring light to those women who have suffered lost limbs or injury due to land mines, and remove some of the stigma that exists for many of the sufferers. This is the Manifesto for the organization responsible for the event:

THE MISS LANDMINE MANIFESTO
(in no particular order)

* Female pride and empowerment.

* Disabled pride and empowerment.

* Global and local landmine awareness and information.

* Challenge inferiority and/or guilt complexes that hinder creativity-
historical, cultural, social, personal, African, European.

* Question established concepts of physical perfection.

* Challenge old and ingrown concepts of cultural cooperation.

* Celebrate true beauty.

* Replace the passive term 'Victim' with the active term 'Survivor'

And have a good time for all involved while doing so!

These are a couple of the ads created to showcase the event for media:





Really is an interesting notion, and one that we fail, here in the Western world, to play with. We hide our 'abnormalities' behind closed doors, or at least we certainly don't give them a contest or pageant. Why don't we? Clearly these women disprove our notions of beauty and flip around our notions of what is normal. This is truly a world changing idea. How can anything be the same?