The Greatest Gift

I believe every person is a gift.

I believe that we're all crafted and shaped by our biology and experiences to become complex individuals with layered perspectives that matter inherently. Everyone's voice, everyone's story, everyone's feeling have value, whether you love them or hate them, whether or not they are even kind to you...each person matters and we are at our best when we take the time to deeply listen to and learn from one another. When you take the time to care, to engage, to love another human being you grow to appreciate them not in spite of their complexities, but because of them.

The things that have made them laugh, made them cry, and moved them for better or for worse have shaped them. As you listen, you love them and you learn. One of my favorite questions to ask people, in the right setting, is 'Who is the first person you ever loved?' Love, when we really experience it, is a groundbreaking discovery. It's scary, it's addicting, and it changes how you see everything.

While we each live complex, developed lives, alone we only have a small albeit rich perspective in the world. When we keep our ears, eyes, and hearts open to the lessons of others, our understanding of life and our capacity for love is limitless.

One of the points I try to stress to students in each interaction is that each of them has the capacity to do good, in big and small ways on a daily basis. I am not a great teacher. I am not TESL certified and I am never going to change the course of their lives by teaching them to perfect the pronunciation of the 'th' sound, but I believe in them more than anything in the world.

I admire them and learn something new from them everyday. I think the cross-cultural curriculum we do at Global Playground is important because it gives countless students the ability to benefit from one another's wisdom and helps them grow. The power of dialogue is endless. Nearly every day, I am struck by a belief or theory one of my students shares that in turn changes my perspectives. One of my most recent 'Aha!' moments came from the Global Playground Art Exchange.

For the Art Exchange, students in the United States, Malaysia, Uganda, Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam, Honduras, and (hopefully) the Philippines reflect on community and culture using art as a medium. They also write about community and/or culture in their native language and English when possible. There is a lot that we can learn from the art alone, but some of the thoughts shared by students about community and culture are profound. In their second or third language, our students are sharing lessons that can take a lifetime for some people to learn, if they're lucky.

One of my favorite reflections came from Wittawat, an 18 year old recent graduate of Mae La Noi Daroonsik School in Thailand. He dreams of working for the Thai Embassy in Bangkok or UNICEF to help others who haven't had his opportunities one day.

"Everyone has a different culture and a different identity, but these aren't problems for us because we can learn from each other... No matter you born where, no matter what race you be, no matter what language you speak, in this area you are Thai people."

-Art Exchange submission of Wittawat, 18

Mae La Noi, Mae Hong Son Province

Thailand

As I've read about the U.S. primaries, I've felt conflicted about being and American. I love the United States and am immensely grateful to be an American, but in these primaries, a really ugly part of the United States is highlighted that produces a great state of dissonance. Systemic racism is pervasive in the United States. Things have started to come to a boil in recent years, and especially in the past 6 months or so thanks to Mr. Drumpf's bigotted remarks that do nothing but fuel hate, but the fact is these problems aren't new. I've been lucky to love fairly diverse groups of people throughout my life and learn from them about the problems they've had to face their whole lives because of perceptions about their race, religion, sexual identity, and/or gender identity.

A lot of things need to be done for lasting change to happen in the United States, and the places throughout the world where people are persecuted for their identities. But where I can start and where we can start is making cross-cultural curriculum within communities and countries and between countries a priority. We each have differences, that should be celebrated because in the words of Wittawat, "these aren't problems for us because we can learn from each other."

Make an effort to give yourself, your students, and/or your loved ones the gift of new perspectives. As you learn and love, your mind is opened to a whole new world.

Check out www.globalplayground.org after March 27th to learn from the rest of the Art Exchange submissions and feel free to get in touch with me regarding the Women of the World Campaign, 10,000 Acts of Kindness, the Pen Pals program (launching in Uganda, Cambodia, Vietnam, and the US soon!), or any cross-cultural understanding program your heart desires!

Quyen, 12

Khe Sanh Secondary School

Khe Sanh, Vietnam

Teachers: Mr. Thuat, Mr. Scott, and I

Jacob B.

Columbia Virtual Academy

Kettle Falls, Washington

United States

Teacher: Mrs. Germann

Phongsri and Sriporn Mae La Noi Daroonsik School

Mae La Noi, Mae Hong Son Province

Thailand

Teachers: Miss Amanda and I

Note: Mae La Noi Daroonsik School is cross-cultural in its nature. The students at MLND are local to Mae La Noi, or a part of one of four hill tribes in Mae Hong Son. Each Friday students are encouraged to wear clothes from their home.