Archbishop Desmond Tutu, whose name is synonymous with overturning apartheid in South Africa, told the delegates, “I want to salute you, for you are a fantastic bunch of human beings.” He went on to say: “Young people are such a fantastic group of people who dream dreams, dreams of a world that is without war. You dream dreams and you say, ‘Let us make poverty history.’… I was in Copenhagen, and most of the people there who were demonstrating, who were passionate, were young people. A hundred thousand young people went out on the streets of Copenhagen.”
Then he offered a theological context for his arguments: “God has been using young people–Joseph, David kills Goliath, Francis of Assisi. And God is using youth to say to us oldies, ‘Hey, when are you going to get it into your head? Just look at how much you’re spending on guns.’… We oldies, how many wars have we started? They were not started by young people. And most of those who start the wars, will you find them on the front line? No, no, no. They’re sitting comfortably at home and watching other people’s children die.
“So I come to you and say, ‘Hey, just go on being idealistic. Just go on dreaming that we are going to have a different kind of world.’ When we come back…we may be ghosts…and look at the world, we’ll say, ‘There’s no longer any poverty. There’s no longer any hunger. There’s no longer any war.’ You are going to make this a beautiful, beautiful world. I look around and I can see Nobel Peace laureates in here.”
This makes me never doubt again that I have a mission to keep on fighting for the greater good. Desmond Tutu takes the time to speak to young leaders, such as myself to make sure we understand we can make a difference. Who am I to disagree?I believe in the different kind of world, I believe I am a changemaker.
What about you?
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