By ewbexec
“Dig Deeper” -Sam Vaghar
It’s only fitting that we end our MCC 2011 features on the man who started it all, Sam Vaghar. At 25, Vaghar has already spread the Millennium Campus Network to include more than 20 campuses in Boston, New York, D.C., and Chicago since its founding in 2007. By gathering already established student chapters to meet on common ground, Vaghar has created an incredible opportunity for student leaders to network, collaborate, and learn from their peers. In events like the Millennium Campus Conference, its blatantly obvious that these groups are seeking fellowship among others who are struggling to end poverty and accomplish the Millennium Development Goals.
However, when he spoke to the MCC 2011 attendees on Saturday morning at Harvard he asked for more. “Dig deeper,” he stated. While the desire to do good and make change is crucial to our movement, it’s not enough. Settling for the intention isn’t going to make actual progress. Taking it a step further, maybe we can even think about Sam himself. Rather than joining a non-profit or volunteering at a single place, he thought of a bigger picture. He created a way to contribute to global change by helping other students gain access to each other–something that wasn’t really being done in a consisten manner. The effect that MCN has had on the various projects done by its members is uncountable but undeniable.
“How” -Sam Vaghar
After asking students to “dig deeper”, Sam pushed even harder and asked us to think of the “how”. “How do we get results? How do we measure success? How do we implement?” While Vaghar agreed that these were difficult to answer, they are also necessary pieces of our work. Without taking our “why”–the things that inspire us, that fuel us, that sustain us–a step further to planning out the “how”, our intentions are wasted and forgotten. So, while floating in the land of whys may soothe your conscious, it will not contribute to the tangible development of solutions.
By ewbexec
"1.4 Billion Reasons" -Hugh Evans
As one of the first speakers at the 2011 MCC Conference, Hugh Evans was a powerful opening act. This Australian Co-Founded the Global Poverty Project and is working to eradicate extreme poverty for the 1.4 billion people still stuck living in these wretched conditions. It's this number that resonated with us as we sat in the audience in the Kendall Square Marriott.
Utilizing technology as an incredible tool for awareness, his non profit has created a multimedia presentation called 1.4 Billion Reasons in order to "engage and inspire audiences" in the fight against poverty. While his beachesque accent may fool you into thinking he's happy to saunter along, his words and actions say otherwise. In his presentation, Evans articulated the irrationality of extreme poverty's prevailing existence. In his words, "the money is there [to end it], but is the will?"
As another arm of his group's campaign to raise awareness and catalyze action, Global Poverty Project has created a fundraising event called Live Below the Line. A challenge to people across the world to live on under $1.50 a day in order to catch a glimpse of extreme poverty's reality. Not only does Hugh Evans act as a major figurehead of the Global Poverty Project, but Hugh Jackman, another native Australian, has stepped up to the plate to help end extreme poverty. As a member of the group's Global Activation Advisory Panel, he's visited the UN with Evans, presented on the Global Poverty Project's mission, and even filmed a short clip for the Live Below the Line challenge.
"Don't Apologize for Being Unreasonable" -Hugh Evans
In his final words as the evening concluded, Evans offered one final piece of advice, "Don't apologize for being unreasonable." While the rest of the world may say we're asking for too much too soon, Evans emphatically disagrees. It's not too fast. It's not too much. "There are 1.4 billion reasons," he reminds us. Extreme poverty has no place in the modern world. Our fellow human beings are being subjected to unimaginable circumstances--circumstances that make a $1.50 daily budget a reality. So we're justified for seeking an "unreasonable" label. Evans urged us to push for more for everyone because nobody should live below the line.
By ewbexec
"Don't Confuse Motion with Progress" -Paul Ellingstad
If you've read our last post featuring Jason Russell of Invisible Children, you know he urged us to action and to take a chance by being a little crazy and doing what it takes right now to face the largest issues facing our generation, today.
In contrast, Paul Ellingstad from HP's Office of Global Social Innovation asked us for patience. He agreed that critical action needed to be taken now in order to begin turning the tide on the fight against extreme poverty. However, "lasting change takes time," he said. If it doesn't stick, then what's the point? All you're left with is a whole lot of wasted energy and effort. Be deliberate. We can't accept the feeling of movement as a marker of progress. We must always check ourselves by asking the hard questions: Is this valuable? Is this effective? Is this efficient?
"We must strive to live by the 'Rules of the Garage'" -Paul Ellingstad
At the end of his presentation, Ellingstad pulled up a slide of the HP "Rules of the Garage". These concise 12 rules are the foundation of the HP philosophy. Ellingstad left them with us as a reminder that the most basic truths found in the most mundane of circumstances can be used to build an empire. Stay true to the things you've learned and be honest about what you can accomplish. And always work like you're still in your garage just trying your best to build something new.
By ewbexec
"Write this down: Intention rules your life." -Jason Russell
At the closing plenary on Sunday for MCC, Jason Russell had the hundreds of students in the crowd mesmerized. Within his first minutes on the stage, he began urging the crowd to copy down his words--words of wisdom, advice, warning, and passion.
With sweeping hand motions and long strides across the stage, Russell urged us to find our passion, the thing that made us feel the most alive, and grab it. Not to let fear of judgment or failure inhibit us, but to celebrate it. "You are what you do everyday," he said. So, be brave and do what you're meant to do, every single day.
"Write this down: You are so powerful." -Jason Russell
He spoke emphatically of the power we have to change the world as young people. As you get older, you don't always have the freedom to take risks and be bold. There's more at stake. But now, at the brink of adulthood, we are limitless. So take the chance and step out of the crowd! Tear down the walls of tedious expectation and comfortable complacency and begin your journey because our generation's window of time to generate real change is closing quickly.
"Write this down: They will try to cut your wings."
He also warned that naysayers and cynics will try their best to 'ground you'. His response? "Don't listen." We can dream big and be crazy in order to face the incredibly urgent and serious issues facing our generation. Because if we aren't willing to be a little crazy in order to solve these problems, then what's the point in being grounded in an ugly reality?
"Write this down: Make a friend."
Russell's NGO, Invisible Children, was created because he made a friend from Uganda who had experienced the horrors of being forced to fight in Joseph Kony's child army. Hearing his story caused Russell to travel to Uganda, film the atrocities, and spread awareness around the globe. He stated that if we just make more friends then if they're in trouble we'd be racing to help because "you don't leave a friend in need."
To conclude his impassioned speech, Russell quoted Apple's "Think Different" campaign.
Here's to the crazy ones.
The misfits.
The rebels.
The troublemakers.
The round pegs in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently.
They're not fond of rules.
And they have no respect for the status quo.
You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them.
About the only thing you can't do is ignore them.
Because they change things.
They push the human race forward.
And while some may see them as the crazy ones,
We see genius.
Because the people who are crazy enough to think
they can change the world,
are the ones who do.