Honouring humanity a force for change

Guest Editorial - Nalini Singh

Nalini Singh was the dux of Wanganui High School 2010 and is now a student at Auckland University.

In August 2011, I was selected to attend the World Changers Conference (WCC) run by the Peace, Prosperity and Progress (P3) Foundation at The University of Auckland. It is not an event to be taken lightly, and, as I begin my second year at the university, I answer questions set forth by P3, considering just how intricately WCC has changed the changers.

In what ways did WCC change your mindset?

A young poet once said to me, the world's most valuable commodity is sincerity. Of course, sincerity is a catalyst for grand change, the instigator of unerring belief and the glass through which passion can shine - all hallmarks of leadership - but there is something that sings louder than sincerity and that is humanity. I was touched by the humaneness of the World Changers' Conference speakers, their unabridged reflections and taking to quietness. Speakers included Ian Bisset, a surgeon who worked in Nepal, Renee Liang, a poet and a paediatrician, Shaun Tan, the then CEO of SPARK, and Trevor Grice, founder of the Life Education Trust.

They were not moving because of anything practised or purposeful, but rather because of their depth in stillness.

Enacting change is no solitary task. I used to believe that inspiration was the greatest gift we could give to one another - to make a difference is one thing, and to inspire others is yet another - but I came to realise that even that lacked enough reciprocity and depth. Be human, Liang said, and it is only now, months later, that I fully appreciate the statement. Love is an irresistible necessity, said Grice, so be kind to one another.

I think about what these things mean. I think, of course, that bringing about change by being human is inextricably linked to our most powerful emotions - not merely love, but also to pain, fear, disgust, longing - both in our own expression of them and in allowing others to do so. I think about global leaders, political figures, and the common individual.

I think, somewhere along the path to "civilisation," we, for whatever reason, devalued emotion, and that saddens me. We assume distances. We cultivate boredom, apathy. We say, don't cry because it's over, not because tears are a confession of failure, but because we do not want to perceive the intensity of another's heart. We speak in labels, we call each other friend when we mean acquaintance, we ask in playgrounds and to those we love, are you my friend ... let's just be friends.

Why not human. Why not be human with one another. Why not speak, act, live as human to human. The word friend implies a certain remoteness, a decided layer. This is the word we think of when we say the "golden" rule of treating others as we would be treated. What is so terrifying about humaneness, I wonder. The vastness? The transcending of the everyday? The stripping bare of all boundary and admission of fault?

I said, in a recent work in response to this poet, "I do not want to be felt by the stars, to feel as if the sun on the back of the neck was placed there for a purpose or to protect against the giant trapeze of chaos and dark matter, the bogeyman of infinity. I do not want to be known, talked to, loved for what I can do or have done, but for what I cannot do or can only hope to achieve. I do not even want to be valued for my sincerity, which is an idealistic phrase, in any case, but for my humanity."

Forget child poverty for a moment. Forget climate change, economic meltdowns, the race against microbes. If there is anything worthwhile to take away from the World Changers' Conference, it is this: there is immeasurable love in being and allowing others to be truly human, and immeasurable pain without. True change, then, is embodied in unselfconscious humanity, in the letting of tears more eloquent than words - of laughter, wonder, devastation - and in the unravelling of our most stringent depths.

What has WCC inspired you to do?

Everything I can humanly do, in a word.

I joined P3 immediately after attending WCC and am now the project lead for Live Below the Line (LBL), where we hope to raise $100,000 to go towards poverty-stricken regions in the Asia-Pacific. I decided to do AISEC's Activate program, where we choose any kind of worthwhile project - in sustainability, raising awareness, rights - and in tandem with that are my SPARK and Microsoft Imagine Cup biomedical projects. The latter is now at national level, its theme being, "Imagine a world where technology helps solve the toughest problems facing us today." I do not believe that we need to limit ourselves to not-for-profits - I think entrepreneurial thinking can also achieve wondrous results with the right kind of organisational culture. I am on the support team for Chiasma, a student-led organisation dedicated to promoting biotech enterprise around the nation, and which has stunning possibilities for the health sector.

In terms of freedom of expression, I am working towards initiating a sub-branch of Auckland's NZPS (Poetry Society) at The University of Auckland. In Amnesty International's branch at my university, I am the treasurer, and I also hope to be involved with UN Youth NZ, Generation Zero, the NZ Asia Institute, the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and the Life Education Trust in some way. Next year, I will train towards the 100km Oxfam Trailwalker, as I enjoy tramping and would love the challenge of completing it within the 36 hours, while also making a global difference.

Why would you recommend the WCC to anyone thinking about going?

Absolutely any tertiary student who feels strongly about enacting change on whatever scale should consider this conference. It is brilliantly organised, with fabulous speakers and like-minded students - it is simultaneously fun as it is poignant, and will open eyes, doors, windows ... and perhaps even skylights