My interest in global issues is similar to that of most people; I want to help. Unlike many my age, I have personally seen the extreme poverty of some parts of the world. Everyday I hear about the issues of the world, and more importantly what is being done to help. My whole family basically lives, breathes, and thinks world culture. My mother works in world relations so that’s all I hear about. I have grown up believing that I belonged to the world, not just America.
In the last seven years I have been everywhere from Alaska to Egypt. I have seen the majestic beauty that many cultures offer, as well as the twisted terror of poverty. It was last summer in Cairo, Egypt that I first noticed the corruption. The corruption seemed to be everywhere I turned. Unchallenged and even pushed for, corruption was there. You could bribe the police to let you sit on the Pyramid, or even to walk in to it.

Yet the poverty was even more disturbing. Dead animals lined the streets, and children bathed in trash-filled canals. It felt like I had been stripped of my silver lining and brought down to reality. That world, our world, needs a change, a serious rehab treatment. It opened my eyes and has held them open ever since.
“Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime.” Aristotle, one of the most influential minds in history, was right in saying this. If we can eliminate poverty from the world, even by small steps, it could save a life. Many people don’t realize that the world and everyone in it are inter-dependent on each other. One small touch of kindness can impact and thus rearrange the way someone else lives. The impact that one person can have is enormous, unlimited even. Just by speaking the truth about the issues of corruption and poverty you could bring everyone closer. The impacts can be as subtle as a little more donation money, or as gargantuan as building a hospital in a third world country. Already I have impacted others by telling them about my travels. I was impacted when I first saw the poverty and experienced the corruption. I hope one day the impacts of all humans can be a domino effect, leading to a final peace.

The world and its entire people interest and fascinate me to no end. The Global Studies and World Languages Academy is right for me. I already know that another school could not be a more perfect fit. To be able to learn and finally understand what I have seen and experienced in other countries would be a dream that I am determined to fulfill. As Mahatma Gandhi would say, “You must be the change you want to see in the world.”