I grew up moving a lot. Of course it was hard at times. It’s not always fun or easy but I am truly grateful for the experiences that have helped get to where I am now.
- When I was 12 years old I was working at the U.S. Embassy 4th of July Picnic when I met my first Peace Corps Volunteers. In that moment I knew that was something that I was going to do.
- I learned that poverty looks the same everywhere. Tin, straw or corrugated boxes propped together to provide shelter but the value of the materials used to build the home did not set the value on a family’s pride for their space.
- I learned that I would not be able to save the world. It was a crushing blow in my 20s. But as I’ve grown I have realized that I can impact the world one action, one person, one relationship at a time.
Social media plays an incredible role connecting me to the hundreds of friends I made living all over the world. I have relationships and connections with people I thought I would never see again. And my parents are much more connected to my children than I was with my grandparents. Through Flickr, Facebook and YouTube my parents have been able to watch my kids grow up. And each week my kids have the opportunity to talk to my parents via Skype. The kids have been able to get to know my parents and see my parents change so when they see them ‘in real life’ there is no hesitation – they run into their grandparents arms.
Social media has impacted the way we hear about what is going on around the world and the way we can respond. Political violence, hurricanes, disease, earthquakes, etc. are only a tweet away. And we can respond as quickly with a single tweet, status update or text to give support both emotional and financial.
Social media has opened the flood gates of information. Both real and fake. And it can fill the space with so much information that the lines blur and we don’t know what the answer is anymore. But we have access to asking questions and empower ourselves with knowledge.
Of course, for all the ways we use social media for good there are those that try to hurt or scam or manipulate. But we can respond to that by reporting SPAM or malicious content, by deleting and blocking and most effectively by not engaging.
