A few snippets of the past months...
- I finished my junior year, and it was sad/happy/exciting/rewarding
- I worked 40 hour weeks for the first time at the City of Portland Office of Sustainable Development
- I traveled to San Diego, Seattle, and Vancouver BC
- I hung out with my family a lot... my niece and nephews especially. Cute as always... but a handful
- I attended LeaderShape, which was amazing, satisfying, and strengthened me as a person
My own education has led me to believe that the social injustices that occur within American society today can only be changed through positive social change created by leaders with integrity. As I began understanding the intricacies of injustice, I recognized that social equity is what I must strive for in order to produce effects that will affect the institutional hierarchies that perpetuate our American society. With this came the realization that my individual growth and opportunity to excel came out of my ability to learn, to create, and to understand concepts and ideas and how I am able to apply them to my life to help both myself and others. I do what I do to allow others to have this opportunity: to learn, grow, and have the ability to help themselves and others. In this world, injustices occur, and if we are to create an equitable society where we can all live with respect and dignity, we must understand that education in all its forms is a key component to eliminating the inequities and gaps that hinder personal and communal development.
When I first began understanding my own privilege, I situated it in the form of binaries. I am Asian American, not white. I am male, not female. I am queer, not straight. I am middle class, not lower class. But, as I complicated my comprehension of how intersectionality works and how my innate identity oppresses as well as is oppressed, I began to understand how institutional hierarchies perpetuated my beliefs on race, gender, sexuality, and all other forms of mainstream identity. Now, I challenge those beliefs, and I live accordingly. The spectrum of social justice has been broadened for me because of a recognition of a need to know who I am and how my personal identity has the possibility of creating coalitions with people different than me, thus working together to create positive social change. And this change is necessary. It is not only my future that depends on my ability to work with people, but the futures of those I work with and the futures of the lives we are able to affect through our work. My education led me to seeing the possibility of change I can create. I can affect whether or not we universalize health care. I can affect how we live in a healthy environment. I can affect our human rights. I can affect how many of my peers vote. I can even affect how I live my life day to day, knowing that each day counts towards making the changes I want to create.
I am a leader. My desire to create positive social change and my ability to see the injustices and act upon them proves this. Closing the educational gap encompasses how these social inequities are addressed by not only me, but by those I am able to educate, lead, and then follow towards a better future.
