I’d never been to New York City before I made the half-day drive with dozens of Georgetown students to attend the Save Darfur rally on September 17th. We’d come to the city to speak out about something that we’ve only seen on TV or read about in a newspaper, but that is real and urgent and happening in our world right now: the genocide and displacement of the people of Darfur, in western Sudan, has been called the greatest humanitarian crisis of the 21st century. The Global Day for Darfur brought crowds of people to their feet to demand action to bring relief to the millions of innocent civilians suffering everyday.
Part of our Georgetown group arrived at Central Park around two o’clock, just as the event was starting. Looking around, I saw thousands of people, young and old. Some stood facing the stage and projector screen set up at the bottom of the hill, some sat on towels and chatted with event volunteers, others wandered around the grounds, looking to buy a Save Darfur T-shirt or ice cream cone. Community leaders and members of the Save Darfur Coalition gave speeches, some calling for Bush’s support of U.N. peacekeeping forces to be deployed to Darfur. Many challenged the crowd to act on their beliefs and call their elected leaders to demand U.S. and U.N. action in the war-torn region. From Madeleine Albright to Marc Roberge of the band O.A.R., those at the microphone presented a positive, unified stance on what our next steps as activists should be.
After the rally, I stepped back onto a bus teeming with optimistic energy. I would make sure to call my House and Senate representatives’ and the President’s offices this week to put my two cents in. I would write letters as well and send my friends e-mails with a link to the Save Darfur web site and encourage them to sign the online petition. With all these thoughts in my head, I sat down for the long ride back to D.C. and opened my backpack full of textbooks. French test tomorrow. Philosophy reading to catch up on. Concepts to review for international relations. As soon as I unzipped my bag, thoughts of the rally dissolved.
I transferred to Georgetown this year because of its reputation for student activism. Here, I’ve found many organizations that spread the word about humanitarian issues and utilize various approaches to further the relief or education efforts. I feel like I should be writing petitions and raising money more often, instead of finding my eagerness to help people overcome by school assignments and deadlines.
I wonder sometimes if it’s worth the three more years of waiting to get started with what I really want to do with my life and finally get to make a tangible difference. This sinking feeling weighs on my conscience.
But then I remember the hummingbird. Last year, I heard Nobel laureate Wangari Maathai speak about her experiences working for democracy and women’s rights in Kenya. At the end of her speech, she told the story of a group of animals who were standing on the edge of the forest as they watched a fire consume the trees. Only the small hummingbird flew back and forth, carrying water in its beak and beating its delicate wings, trying to keep its home from being burned up. The other animals asked why it even bothered to try, to which the hummingbird replied, “I’m doing the best that I can.” This story gives me a bit of hope, knowing that someone who has done so much for her community and the world acknowledges my feelings of impatience. She told us that we should finish school, finish preparing for our time to come to help other people. While I’m in school, I can be a hummingbird and do the best that I can, balancing preparation and action, studying and rallying for change.
