Arctic Mark in Stanley Park

Change is definitely in the air...I think Barack Obama is right about one thing at least: people (and not just the American electorate) are hungry for change. And in his campaign for the Democratic nomination, he has so far managed to brilliantly capitalize on this widespread, if unfocused and undefined, sense of yearning. More about Mr. Obama shortly...

This recent photo (taken by a student using my camera) was a striking reminder to me of the power of visual images to transcend ideological debates and partisan politics. 

On Friday, Feb. 8, in the company of three Grade 12 students from my school, I attended a conference in Richmond, BC, organized by World Vision Canada. The conference was called "Youth Empowered" and was aimed at increasing students' awareness of global development issues while building their leadership skills for community activism at the local, national and international levels. As the Chair of South Delta Secondary School's Social Justice Committee, I was encouraged by my principal to accompany our school's three student representatives to this exciting event. There were several student-focused workshops and discussions throughout the day, the most interesting of which was facilitated by two visitors from Tanzania, who led the group through an imaginary village meeting in which various community stakeholders were assigned the difficult task of determining how their allotted aid resources are to be divided amongst the competing needs of the village. In a village where there is little or no clean water, a shortage of food, poor (or non-existent) schooling, and minimal health care facilities, how does one decide which of the many pressing social needs are the most urgent?  Should we relieve the most immediate short-term crises, or shift our focus instead to longer-term development of local infrastructures, or try to achieve the impossible by balancing the two? It was a fascinating process, mediated throughout by the the guests from Tanzania, along with the impressively informed World Vision staff.

One of the highlights of the day was another group activity which came out of World Vision's current "Hungry For Change" photo-essay campaign. They are asking anyone in Canada, non-students as well as students, who feels strongly that we should be increasing our foreign aid commitments rather than decreasing them, to create a photo message to that effect, using whatever available materials are at hand, but without any faces showing. Once you've created your photo-message, you can upload it to the Gallery at the World Vision website (at the link below). More photos are being added all the time, up until the campaign closes in May, at which point World Vision plans to hand deliver all of the photos to Prime Minister Harper in the hope of persuading his government to increase, rather than decrease, their commitment to international development aid.  You can view the photos that have been submitted to date at the following link: http://advocacy.worldvision.ca/eactivist/worldv/wvGallery...

The above photo-message was the result of my being seated at a table with four Grade 10 students from the host school, McMath S.S. in Richmond. We played around with several phrases involving the word "change," and finally agreed on the one you see above, using the loose change we had between us.  (In case you hadn't guessed, my hands are the big ones on the right.)  The official photographer came around and snapped photos of all of the messages created by the various groups, all of which will be posted soon on the World Vision site.  I was surprised by how powerfully immediate and visceral many of these messages were. In addition to our own stellar one pictured above, one group used an amazing range of food products to spell out in large letters: "Starvation Kills."  But the group whose message hit me hardest used just their bodies to send a powerful message. All six group members stood in a line with their hands covering their faces (as if in shame), and printed on the back of each person's hand in large bold letters was one word from this humbling and quite moving message: "We Can Do Better Than This."  The memory of that image and message still sends shivers down my spine.  As I was leaving at the end of the day with the students from my school, and we were discussing the many exciting ideas and positive impressions that we were taking away with us, it struck me that, in at atmosphere such as this, it's very difficult to maintain a posture of cynicism or despair about the monumental problems facing the world. All in all, a very productive and inspiring day, for all of the students, for the other teacher-chaperones, and for me.

All of which brings me back to Senator Obama.  It seems to me that his astonishing success so far in the campaign for the Democratic nomination is due in no small part to his much-noted ability to inspire people from a broad range of backgrounds and interest groups to become engaged in the political process, from the grass-roots level right up to the highest corridors of power. While many of his actual policy positions have yet to be clearly defined, and while he may not have the depth of experience that Senator Clinton has, his calls for profound "change" in American political life - vague and undefined as they may seem at times - have nonetheless stirred up a remarkable positive reaction from a huge number of people across America, and around the world. I think people sense that there's more going on here than just more of the same old manipulative "spin" cynically engineered to win votes.

I do honestly believe that we can all make change...that we can and should think globally and act locally...or think locally and act globally...that we can and should - as Mahatma Gandhi said - "Be the change you want to see in the world."  I've seen the reality of these kinds of imaginative transformations in some of my students over my eight years of teaching, and they continue to inspire me to this day.  Interesting times we live in, eh?  I wouldn't miss any of it for the world.