365 Days of Mei
365 days. Something awesome every day. If I can see it, so can you.
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#51; Epiphanies on public transit
We often dread taking public transit, mainly because they’re unpredictable, they’re often off schedule, there are accidents, and just commuting in general is plain boring and seemingly a waste of time.
But if you take out your earbuds, pause your iPod for just 30 minutes, and listen to your thoughts. Hear them out, you’ll be surprised for what you’ll find.
I was coming home from a global health conference I attended this weekend, and throughout the conference, although I was gaining new insights, being educated, and inspired beyond imagination, I was also finding myself feeling disconnected with those that are close to me but have not gone through the same experience, that do not share the same passion as I for global health issues. And as I was sitting on the bus, and I looked around me, I thought to myself, “here they are, inactive citiziens, carrying out their daily routines without a single worry of what’s going on out there” and immediately after I felt disgusted with myself for thinking this. And after some time of trying to figure out why I’m feeling like this, and how I can change that, I realized:
It is not other’s fault that they are ignorant of the issues out there, whether it be local or global. It is up to us to advocate, spread awareness, and educate. We can not simply expect others to all of a sudden have the same passion, be aware of the issues if we do not tell them.
The hard part is not going to a conference, and speaking out in front of people who clearly have the same views, values, and passion as you. The real difficulty is taking what you learned from conferences, and distributing that knowledge to those who do NOT share the same opinion, to those from different professional/educational backgrounds; the difficult part is to share the knowledge gained to those who challenge us.
But that’s exactly what’s needed. Change is not up to those who are politically charged with a fierce passion, change is up to everyone. It’s up to the person sitting next to you on the bus just the same to the person dancing next to you at the bar.
That being said, let’s get over our fear of being challenged, of objection, of questioning. And let’s get EVERYONE on board, and before you know it, “change will happen, small increments at a time”.
Oh yeah, so epiphanies on public transit are pretty cool.
M
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#108; When the person you voted for, wins.
At Western University (see what I did there haha), it’s that crazy period of the year that I like to call Campaign season. Now, I don’t want to boast or anything but Western definitely has huge school spirit and everyone seems to be buzzing about the latest news on the candidates for the various positions.
This year, the presidential elections was actually very interesting (and also entertaining). When it comes down to it, if it was solely due to popularity, one candidate was a clear winner, but the interesting thing is that, he didn’t win.
Instead, this less attractive, more geeky, not your average dude won.
Leading up to the reveal of the results, I was sweating buckets, anxiously waiting to hear the results… And when they announced the winner and it’s actually someone I picked. Man, what an incredible feeling. Definitely going to vote more from now on.
I don’t like to voice my political opinion out publicly, but man, am I glad he won.
M
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#137; Mystery cheques from the government
30% off Tuition grant?
Hell yes!
Gotta love the Canadian government when mystery cheques start appearing at your doorstep.
M
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#139; When friends are super supportive during an election
It’s that time of the year again.
Yep, campaigning for various council positions are already up and running. Facebook events, facebook messages, twitters, posters, just about any types of shameless advertising.
But what’s better than all those forms mentioned? When your friends geniunely support you and campaign for you where ever they go, when they’re not envious of your rising popularity but embrace it because they know you deserve it.
Friends can be pretty awesome, but who knew they’d make such great promoters too.
M
