When in Salzburg…

I want to start off by thanking my parents for everything they have done to help me get to where I am today. Without the two of them, I would never have been given the the opportunity to fly across the world for three weeks to see the beautiful sights that I’ve seen and to learn all the things I have learned. Throughout this journey, I have been given various opportunities to reflect on how truly lucky I am to be where I am. So thank you, mom and dad, for getting me here.

As I approach the end of my second week in Austria, at the Salzburg Global Seminar, and I reflect on what I have learned so far, I am realizing that I have gained more knowledge throughout this experience than I have throughout my entire 21 years of life. And it only took 12 days… 12 days spent living, sharing, and learning with the most inspiring, enthusiastic people I have ever met, who come from all over the world. These people have taught me that, even with all the hate we see in the world, we have so much to live for. I have learned that life is a journey, and our journey through life unravels our stories. And within these stories, we must learn to understand our purpose. We all have a purpose, and the world can benefit from each and every one of us, despite the color of our skin, our social class, or our sexual orientation. Each and every person living on this Earth was made to be different, because life would be boring if we were all the same.

As I have come to terms with all of this on a much deeper level throughout my time in Austria, I wonder why this world still continues to see so much terror and hate, and I realize that much of it revolves around these differences. Instead of embracing our differences, too many people are too quick to judge.

So, I pose these questions: How exactly do we change this? How do we create a peaceful society? Will we continue to live in a world full of hate for generations to come? Can one person change the world?

To answer all those questions, I think I would have to be able to see into the future, which unfortunately for me, I cannot. But what I do know is this: We have the ability to learn, and we have the ability to take action. With knowledge and learning, I believe that we can create a better world, but we must be patient because change won’t happen over night and sometimes we can’t always see change happening in front of our eyes. So maybe that’s our problem. Perhaps because we live in a world that is so fast-paced with all the advances in technology, we have gotten so used to getting what we want with the click of a button, maybe this is why we talk about change but we never see it happen.

I’m not sure what the problem is, but I have realized that in order to create change, we must first change ourselves.

“Be the change you wish to see in the world” -Gandhi.

I have been replaying that quote in my head for days now, and I have realized that we can be the change, but to be the change, WE must change.

So to anyone reading this, I challenge you to one thing: Find something in your life to change, anything, and do it, step out of your comfort zone and change it. Make a change for yourself, and you might be surprised what else you can change along the way.