Empowering Change: A Call to Action by Student Sion Symonds

Opinion Writer: Sion Symonds

May 10, 2012 — We can be the change. We can be the one thing that makes a difference. We can and will be the one thing that puts a smile on the face of those with no hope and no sanctuary. We can be the change. We can be whatever the world needs us to be.

We can do it. We can break through that impossible wall that deprives us of love and spirit and kindness: the one that holds us back, that makes us think it’s impossible for us to push through and regain our strength and do the impossible. We can be the one who stands up and says “no” when the white man tells us to get up out of our seats and go to the back of the bus.

We can be the change. We can be the one who doesn’t throw that rock back at him; the one who knows where his time and place is and the one who knows how to handle it when they say “No blacks allowed.” We can be the one who unravels that crumbled piece of paper with the reason why that boy jumped off that bridge and didn’t look back; he who doesn’t believe that we should lay down, the one who gets back up and doesn’t care what they say, and no matter how many sticks and stones they throw we are the one who says “sticks and stones may break my bones, but your words will never hurt me.”

We can be the change. We can be the one who stands up for our rights; the one who apologises for bullying that kid for all those years; the one who looks the bully in the eye and says “yes I forgive you.” We can be the change.

We can be the one who hands the cigarette back and says “No I will not”; the one who hands him back his gun and says “No I will not”; the one who helps him look to the future not the past and hands that bag of weed back and says “NO I WILL NOT!” We can be the one who doesn’t care about what they say; he who doesn’t let them be discriminated because they are black; the one who smiles and laughs with that bully who called you four eyes just because you wear glasses.

We can be the change. We can be the one who stands up on that stage and sings their heart out or dances themselves to the ground, or that shows them that special talent of yours and shows that we are more than meets the eye, that you are a kind, caring, social, loving, living, fighting, breathing, human being.

We can. No, you can be the change!

Originally published in The Royal Gazette