The Fourth Estate

These 650 amazing people gathered in San Diego this past August. We were brought together by Invisible Children in order to have a summit to be trained and to have a massive brain storming session. 

It was BIGGER than any of us could have imagined. 

And here's the thing, it's difficult to describe the event. It was four days of listening to incredible speakers- from Jason Russell (one of the founders of Invisible Children) to Tom Shadyac (a famous Hollywood director and producer) to Carl Wilkens (the only American to stay in Rwanda during the genocide) and over a dozen others. We were inspired and angered and filled with joy. 

We were also broken into four groups: The Creatives (those who worked on the IC blog, designed t-shirts and took video of the event), The Captains (those who are natural born leaders), The Connectors (those who are the advocates, working the phones, getting others involved for the cause) and then The Cultivators- my group. The people who are on the ground in Africa- the ones who get to do the really cool stuff (well, that's my very unbiased opinion). 

Now to tell you all we did and learned and trained to do? Well we could be here a while and to be perfectly honest I have a bit of homework to finish, but here's the bit I want to share with you:

My first night there I was scared, nervous and feeling rather, well.. under-qualified. You see, I've known about IC for six years, but it wasn't until my freshman year in college that I really got involved and I'm not one for asking people for money so my fundraising efforts were pretty minimal. In fact, when I applied to get into the Fourth Estate I was wait listed (and the way I was able to get there was such a God thing, but alas, another story for another day). So there I am, sitting in this incredible auditorium with all these passionate, amazing people feeling rather intimidated when the lights go down. Then there's a creepy, epic voice is heard and the welcome video starts. The video highlights the revolutions of history, and you know what? Not one of them were made by the powerful- the American Revolution, the French Revolution, the Civil Rights Movement, the uprisings in the Arabic world- it was the little people. The video showed us our pictures- the coordinators of this event? They knew us, they had studied our applications, introduction video and posts to the Fourth Estate page prior to coming. And lastly, the video told us, "You have been chosen, and you are worthy." Now, I know what you're thinking, I was wait-listed (that's sort of the opposite of chosen, right?) but that was truly only so God could get the glory for me getting to San Diego- He was who chose me. 

Now here is what I leave you with, we are all small people. None of us take up much more than a square foot of ground, but we all have passions. We all see injustice and something inside of us says "that's not right!" And then we cower and we figure nothing can be done. "I'm a college student, I could maybe give ten bucks, what good would that do?" "No one would hear me if I spoke up anyhow." "No one takes me seriously." Those were just my excuses! I'm certain you have a few of your own. But you are the people who can do something, and you never know unless you ask, unless you try. Without asking? The answer is no. Without trying? You've failed at your task. So what's the worst that could happen?

I hope to share bits and pieces of the true inspiration that way Fourth Estate along the way, but I've rambled for quite some time, so:

"People are not fearful of their inadequacies, they are fearful of their limitless power as children of God."

-Jason Russell