International Women’s Day

I am Vivi: philanthropist, Chief Inspiration Officer, delegate — and girl.

Happy International Women’s Day! I have some thoughts I’d like to share with you:

I am 12, and I have a long life ahead of me. I look forward to making a big, beautiful impact on our world, in the lives of millions, maybe even billions of people.

While I am filled with hope for the future, I am also filled with concern.

These days, I hear a lot of mean things being said that are dividing us, not uniting us.

I’m only in sixth grade, but in my history class I’ve learned that anger has never worked out for humanity. It has always led us down a dark path that can hurt us all.

Martin Luther King, Jr. said: “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

I know that it’s hard to meet hate with love. I know that it’s hard to see the light in the dark. But, we must. We must “have courage and be kind.”

That’s where we women come into the picture! Women bring people together. We build families and community — and peace. It’s our nature. I actually have no idea where I would be without my wonderful mom, Alex.

And it’s up to us to lead. We must STAND and lead. We must lead the movement for compassion, lead the movement for unity and lead the movement for peace. We can and we must.

And we must invite our wonderful men! Our strong and loving brothers and fathers and friends. If we are to succeed in building peace on this Earth, men must be part of this. I would not be anything without my strong, loving dad, Eric and brother, Turner.

That is why I love the HeForShe movement. It invites men to STAND with women, and boys to STAND with girls to move humanity forward. That is beautiful. And it’s possible!

How do I know it’s possible? My little bro.

Turner is 6. He may be small, but boy does he think big! He loves his big sis, so he made a STAND on our platform and raised $3,580 for HeForShe in one hour! If a little man can STAND so tall for women, imagine what each of us can do.

On this International Women’s Day, I ask you to STAND and do one thing, take one action that will make a positive difference.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s this:

It’s not about how small you are. It’s about how big you want to change the world.

Vivienne Harr is the 12-year-old Chief Inspiration Officer of STAND.