dayPRINCETON?

I am walking the great buildings and halls at Duke University, such a place to have in mind “ivy” league schools. The architecture here allows one to dream up their great plans to change the world. My mind feels the freedom to wonder the paths of possibilities while here as it did in DC.

Something clicked inside me while in DC. It was not the sense of power or awkward feeling of a suite and tie that caused a click, but rather a lecture from a man named Jeffery Sachs. Mr. Sachs gave a lecture on "practical approaches to ending extreme poverty in Africa." The focus of the lecture was "practical approaches..." so it only makes sense that one walk away feeling empowered or capable of creating change.

I walked out of the Center for Global Development with a walk to change the world. I was inspired to bring a green revolution, healthcare revolution, and connectivity revolution to Africa. More than this, I felt inspired to reach for things that seemed so far off before. Like the hand of a senator, the hand of Bono, the pen to fill out a graduate application, and the hand of my neighbor to begin making a difference.

Many might pause to say, Clint, what about America what about the people in our own country who have it tough. My response will have to be: there are plenty of people here concerned with such. But I am concerned here with the idea of equality, which includes all people even those enduring hardships in the states.

When people exist in countries that go to war because the rains fail, we must being to ask different questions. In the process we will learn something about the big idea of equality. After we ask questions like, “Why do the poorest of the poor in the world exist on one continent, and why when we call the poor Africa is it then okay for us to turn our backs?” Asking these types of questions will help us to put down our ethnocentric bias and start supporting people.

So here my mind dwells in the sea of endless possibilities for future decisions to help change the world. What remains timeless is the need for equality, and the pursuit of it where ever we find ourselves. Let us grab the hand of a neighbor and begin to demonstrate equality.