14°c Light rain
Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Stand up, if you want to change the world
RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Samanta Beaulieu of Sisler High School suggests anything is possible.
Related Items
-
Articles
Eighteen thousand people, most of them teenagers, channelled Nellie McClung at top volume Tuesday afternoon at the MTS Centre.
"Never retract, never explain, never apologize," they chanted as an image of Manitoba's famous suffragette flashed above their heads.
The students waved homemade signs proclaiming their love for the planet, for peace, for clean water and for each other. They clapped and they sang and they cheered, their emotions jacked up by a stream of celebrities, motivational speakers and one very famous world-changer, all brought together in Winnipeg to celebrate We Day.
Quoting McClung was only a fragment of a tightly scripted day designed to reward and exhort students who have demonstrated they long to be the cool kids who will change the world. Marc and Craig Kielburger, the founders of Free the Children and We Day, were in constant movement during the event. They spoke passionately, they introduced guests, they made pleas for people to donate pennies to bring clean water to developing nations. By the end of the afternoon they paced the stage like televangelists, their hair plastered down with sweat as they invoked a rollcall of international peacemakers and human-rights activists.
Those 18,000 teens were introduced to the deeds of McClung, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, the Little Rock Nine and Mikhail Gorbachev in a frenetic day that blended an old-fashioned tent revival with a call to action. The Kielburgers are rock stars to these kids and to many in the international development community.
Their story is lore. Craig Kielburger laid the groundwork for Free the Children when he was 12. He read about a 12-year-old Pakistani boy who was murdered for his work championing the rights of children. Kielburger's upset turned to activism. The brothers formed Free the Children, an organization that now boasts nearly two million youth involved in programs in 45 countries. The charity focuses on providing clean water and sanitation, health care, small business opportunities and food security to developing nations and in Canada.
The crowd at the MTS Centre came from schools across the province, invited because they'd worked to help fulfil some part of the Free the Children mandate. We Day is their reward, an event to which you can't buy a ticket.
So how did these kids, who screamed full volume at the likes of singers Shawn Desman and Lights, respond to former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev? You could have heard a pin drop as Craig Kielburger interviewed Gorbachev. The teens were silent as they listened to the 81-year-old talk about the existence of 100,000 nuclear warheads during the Cold War, each of them capable of levelling a city the size of Winnipeg. Young people should fight for freedom, he said, they should stand united and they should never be intimidated by those who try to stop them.
In this post-Arab Spring world, the teens who will help shape our future stood as one and cheered for an old man who won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to prevent a nuclear war. It was a pure moment, raw and sincere.
Were these kids manipulated by the catchphrases, the gift bags and the choreographed We Dance? Of course they were. They're manipulated every day by the messaging in television ads, movies and on social media. But these kids spent a day hearing and believing they are our hope. They have a voice. They are the best and they can change the world.
They won't all keep the energy of We Day. Some will forget the bake sales that helped build a school in Kenya. They'll leave behind the slogans, the inspirational stories and the inspiring words of a former president who implored them to work for honesty, justice and truth. Odds are some of them will grow into adults who believe they can collectively fight poverty, oppression and injustice.
"If you're ready to change the world, stand up," Craig Kielburger shouted at the mass of teenagers. And they stood, 18,000 strong.
lindor.reynolds@freepress.mb.ca
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition October 31, 2012 A1
More Local
- Back to Top
- Return to Local
More Local
(1 of 18 articles for today)
Fire damages St. Vital home
11:13 AM 0A home in St. Vital sustained $40,000 in damage after a fire Sunday.
Five fire units responded to a basement fire ...
About Lindor Reynolds
Lindor Reynolds began work at the Free Press as a 17-year-old proofreader. She was fired three weeks later.
Many years later, armed with a university education, she was hired as a columnist. During 16 years on the job she has managed to avoid being sacked again.
Lindor has received considerable recognition for her writing. Her awards include the Will Rogers Humanitarian Award, the National Society of Newspaper Columnists’ general interest award and the North American Travel Journalists Association award.
She has earned three nominations for the Michener Award and has been awarded a Distinguished Alumni commendation from the University of Winnipeg. Lindor was also named a YWCA Woman of Distinction.
She is married with four daughters.
Poll
Most Popular Local
- Police identify slaying victims
- Man charged, victims identified in double homicide
- North End proud
- Fishing for fashion
- Second man charged in 2012 slaying
- Take me off your guest list, Harper
- Head-on collision kills pickup driver
- Leaving a gang isn't easy — Sidney Letandre, now a paraplegic, knows it all too well
- Fire damages St. Vital home
- Actor works to disable bullying
- Charleswood deaths being investigated as domestic incident
- Man charged, victims identified in double homicide
- Co-worker 'sick' today? Maybe it's the $17M flu
- '2 minutes after I read the winning numbers, I retired': Winnipeg lotto winner
- Sex charges for ex-club boss
- An uncommon phenomenon
- Aboriginal leader Elijah Harper dies
- Winning 6/49 ticket purchased in Winnipeg
- 'Responsible Winnipeg' ads appear on sign run by mayor-owned Goldeyes' baseball park
- Woman killed in head-on crash in southwestern Manitoba
- Hundreds pitch in to dig out houses damaged, destroyed by Ochre Beach ice floe
- A child-custody catastrophe
- Charleswood deaths being investigated as domestic incident
- Man charged, victims identified in double homicide
- Co-worker 'sick' today? Maybe it's the $17M flu
- '2 minutes after I read the winning numbers, I retired': Winnipeg lotto winner
- Parents, community relieved and elated as missing boy found safe
- No threat from bag found at Winnipeg Square
- Man missing since 2009 found safe
- Earls on Main going, but new one coming
- Fishing for fashion
- North End proud
- Province announces service for Elijah Harper
- Rejected by U of M, former Winnipegger became rocket scientist
- Aboriginal leader Elijah Harper dies
- Police make grow-op bust
- Take me off your guest list, Harper
- Actor works to disable bullying
- King of Veggies rules these parts
- Who says house calls are a thing of the past?
- An uncommon phenomenon
- Province introduces changes to rules governing landlords, renters
- Hundreds pitch in to dig out houses damaged, destroyed by Ochre Beach ice floe
- Crushing blow for amateur sport
- Ochre Beach residents are 'thankful everybody got out'
- Aboriginal leader Elijah Harper dies
- Woman killed in head-on crash in southwestern Manitoba
- Sex charges for ex-club boss
- Fishing for fashion
- Giving your money, and expertise, to charity
- Hundreds pitch in to dig out houses damaged, destroyed by Ochre Beach ice floe
- A child-custody catastrophe
- Mental-health patients get own ER
- Black market in moose thrives
- An uncommon phenomenon
- Steen invests $1M in family entertainment centre
- Earls on Main going, but new one coming
- Province introduces changes to rules governing landlords, renters
- Crushing blow for amateur sport
- Boost same-sex curricula: union
Ads by Google
You can comment on most stories on winnipegfreepress.com. You can also agree or disagree with other comments. All you need to do is register and/or login and you can join the conversation and give your feedback.
Have Your Say
New to commenting? Check out our Frequently Asked Questions.
The Winnipeg Free Press does not necessarily endorse any of the views posted. By submitting your comment, you agree to our Terms and Conditions. These terms were revised effective April 16, 2010.