I think Jerry Maguire said it best with the line, “We live in a cynical world. A cynical world.” Many people happily flow through their lives looking out for number one; never taking their blinders off to look around and stop to consider how they, and what they do, is impacting the world around them. Their need to focus on themselves blinds them to the potential each day holds for making the world a slightly better place.
In GGC, we continually talk to girls about self-esteem, empowerment and making a difference. We strive to inspire them to make healthy choices, be themselves, to use what they have, and do what they can to impact the world. It seems that it’s working; the message is getting though and girls are listening. But we adults are sometimes too caught up in ensuring girls are receiving the “right” message, that we fail to see that all our hard work has another positive results: empowered girls to have a far less cynical view of the world than many adults out there.
While some adults may prefer girls choose “squeaky clean” role models, many girls, such as those who submitted videos for our International Day of the Girl YouTube Playlist, seem to be able to take what we’ve taught them and apply it (for themselves). They can pick out what speaks to them from a particular song or a singer’s life, and use that as their empowerment channel, while weeding out what they don’t like and what doesn’t speak to them. These girls demonstrate their ability to not only make wise choices, but to be able to “forgive” celebrities for being what we all are – human.
If we have taught girls how to be accepting, forgiving, understanding, empowered, confident, courageous and willing to make a difference in the world, than I can breathe a bit easier that the world is not nearly as cynical as it sometimes appears to us adults.
By Leslie, Girl Programs
Leave a Reply