Hello all. As some of you may know, I've just become a member of the John F. Kennedy Board in Thailand. Several days ago, we had an event to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the JFK Foundation at the JFK Library, Prince of Songkla University, Pattani campus.
Besides the professional setup of the exhibition and the trendy clips, there was a panel discussion on, 'Youth as global multicultural influencers'. The panelists consisted of Ajarn Diyaporn-Nok, a Fulbright alum teaching at Thaksin U; Ajarn Fuadi Pitsuwan (Khun Surin's son) who's a visiting fellow at Chiang Mai U; and Mr. Muhammad Maseng, President of the PSU Pattani student club; moderated by Dr. Bordin Wealateh, Vice President for Student Development, Pattani Campus.
I'd like to share some of the key points I got from the discussion ka.
- The discussion was managed with the very capable moderator to capture key points and make follow-on questions (with a fine sense of humor too ka!).
- Ajarn Fuadi asked the meeting to prioritize individual identity from race/ethnicity, religion, language , nation, gender, jobs, online self. It turned out the top 3 were race/ethnicity, religion, language ka. The result could be different depending on the nature of the audience.
I myself was surprised not to think about race/ethnicity much at all even I'm of Chinese descent. Anyway, I thought about it after a short while and it got into my 4th priority ka. What about yours ka?
- Respect for diversity and open-mindedness have been high on the sharing from the three. By being so, everyone learns much more for more harmonious coexistence. After all, respect others as human beings.
- Some terms like nationalism vs patriotism, language proficiency vs idea excellence were raised for definitions, trend projections, and self improvement.
- Going out into the world through reading, volunteering, and courage to get out of the comfort zone is encouraged to expand perceptions and understand real-life issues. This could help all feel more empathized, have more friends regardless of age and differences, etc.
- Everyone could be an influencer and all can start from doing some little things that would mean a lot to the communities.
- Skills needed are: privilege awareness (knowing that each of us has some privileges in life over others like access to higher education), public responsibility, professionalism, provocative mindset, dare to mingle in the real world, ability to appreciate people, open-mindedness to lessen bias, flexibility.
I heard often about 'No man is an island.' but I never knew it's a poem by John Donne. It's so touching to teach us about empathy as one kind human being ka.... death of anyone, known or unknown, brings sorrow to our hearts.
This was one wonderful session to enhance us as quality human beings for a better multicultural world of ours loei ka.
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