Those dreaded water jugs. You know them — the ones that your fellow classmates shake in your face in the hallways and during lunch, attempting to extract those few pennies you had leftover from your Chipotle burrito. We all hate them, but at the same time, those water jugs are necessary.
Ever heard of The Butterfly Effect? It’s when the flap of a butterfly’s wings in, say, China, could perpetuate a hurricane all the way in the Caribbean. Metaphorically, the butterfly represents what young people of the world can do to initiate great changes. A small effort could spark a whole lot more.
Take the uprisings in the Middle East; most of them started on a social networking site. Think of the more recent Kony 2012 phenomenon. Although the business practices of the organization Invisible Children have been under scrutiny (for more in-depth discussion on this, visit Response to Accusations Against Invisible Children), according to a Pew Reseach survey, the percentage of Millenials (those born between 1982 and 2003) who had heard or seen the video within one week of its release were twice as much as any other generation. The end result was that the despicable crimes of international war criminal Joseph Kony were brought to international infamy.
The Internet is a wake-up call to our generation to take a stand on global issues. Unlike our parents and grandparents before that, we are more connected to people across the world than ever before. Our fondness for social media is in fact strengthening our resolve to shape our futures in a more connected global community.
However, activism starts locally. A few students walking around with the water jugs can raise a decent amount of money. And what happens when more than a few students lend a hand? Just look at the amazing efforts at WJ to raise money for Pennies for Patients. Local fundraising, just one school in Bethesda, can make national rankings for its contributions to fund research to find a cure for leukmia and lymphoma .
Go down one tier to smaller fundraisers on the school club level. I remember last year in the aftermath of the Japan tsunami when several school clubs like Amnesty International, Asian American Club, and others all teamed together to raise money for aid. We brought in whatever art supplies we had to create a few dozen makeshift piggy banks from empty tissue boxes all in the matter of 24 hours. It was incredible to work alongside peers, who cared a great deal for a devastated nation across the ocean.
As Margaret Mead, the famed American anthropologist, once said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
That action starts with you, reader. Take a stand on something. Stick by it. Who knows, you might be the butterfly who changes the world.
