Monday, January 21, 2019
“Injustice everywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
Today we participated in the annual MLK Day Parade in Denver. We began at East High School & walked to City Park. When we arrived at City Park, we listened to many Denver community leaders speak about MLK, why they marched every year, and what they stand for. Each speech was empowering and inspiring.
“Today we pray with our legs.”
Many different leaders from all different backgrounds talked about why they chose to participate in the parade. One thing that stuck with me was this phrase: “Today we pray with our legs.” In order to create change, we must take action. We did this today, by marching alongside hundreds of people all uniting for one reason: to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. and what he stood for; what he fought for. Individual people, as well as groups and organizations around Denver, walked 5k in honor of MLK, and to advocate for everything he stood for.
Kat, Texas
WORKSHOPS
The second half of the day focused on workshops. We talked about the four curriculum units of Up With People.
cultural awareness
leadership & development
global citizenship
interpersonal communication
“Learning changes you. If you haven’t changed, you haven’t learned.”
inspiring a shared vision
envision the future by imagining exciting and ennobling possibilities.
elist others in a common vision by appealing to shared aspirations
“The UWP experience is potentially educational”
meaning, you only get out of it as much as you put into it.
EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING CYCLE
RELFECTION & GROWTH
what (observation of the experience)
gut (emotional reaction)
so what? (stop & think. get new insights.)
now what? (actions that can be taken)
NON VIOLENT COMMUNICATION (NVC)
Non Violent Communcation was the next topic we focused on in this workshop.
What is non violence?
The personal practice of being harmless to self and others under every condition.
NONVIOLENCE = PEACE
Negative peace = absence of violence, something undesirable stopped happening
Positive peace = peace filled with positive content. Serves the needs of the whole population.
We then learned a little bit about the 4 part NVC system. This method focuses on a method of connecting people in the natural state of compassion where no violence is present in the heart.
This workshop was eye opening & intriguing to me. I had never even heard of the concept of non violent communication. I gained knowledge of this new topic today, and it will definitely be a useful tool in the next coming months, as well as in the future.
Today was one of those days that took “you learn something new every day” to a whole new level. Since Tuesday the 15th, when I arrived in Denver, CO, I have learned so much more than ever before. Being surrounded by 98 people from 14 different countries, learning from and listening to others as they share their stories, cultures, passions & goals is an experience I wouldn’t trade for the world.