Healing Divides Within Our Community

Juniata College’s annual Bailey Oratorical speech competition was a “charged moment” to be a part of this year. It was truly a blessing and an honor to be present in hearing seven outstanding speeches given by outstanding members of our community. This year, they answered the prompt, “with a liberal arts education, how can we help heal divides within our communities?” After the rollercoaster of a year our country has had, all listeners, whether in the audience or streaming online live, leaned in closely to hear what the contestants had to say.

There wasn’t a speech given that night that less than extraordinary. Dancing around issues centered in the political and social atmosphere of our country and world, I felt inspired and motivated to make change happen within my community. After the results of this year’s election, I’ve felt very uneasy and at suspense with what the future holds in store for me. But I learned one of life’s biggest lessons from listening to one particular speech — it is not our differences between one another that divides us, but our assumptions we have about one another. To heal divides, we must challenge ourselves to always ask questions, particularly curious, critical, and courageous questions. This speech given by senior Anh Ha left not only me feeling inspired, but all who were listening, and she is now the 2017 first prize winner of the Bailey Oratorical.

Committing to ask curious, critical, and courageous questions of those who are different than ourselves is an outstanding way to look towards healing divides within our communities, no matter how far apart we may seem.