Nobel Prize Winner Brings Message of Activism
by Osjua Newton
Issue date: 5/1/06 Section: News
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 Media Credit: Osjua Newton Nobel Prize winner, Jody Williams |
"Sometimes people assume that when you get the Nobel Peace Prize you are suddenly Mother Teresa; or if you are not Mother Teresa, you're on the road to sainthood," said Williams. "Trust me, I'm not. I am a normal human being just trying to make the world a little bit better."
Since 1992, Williams has been championing the cause of removing and banning the usage of landmines across the globe with the ICBL that she helped to construct. Originally, her cause was the concept of a Vietnam vet and a German non-government organization (NGO) , who invited her to lead the effort of increasing public awareness and to devise a political campaign to motivate the world's governments towards solving the problem. She considers landmines, "weapons of mass destruction in slow motion" because they kill indiscriminately and stay in the ground almost indefinitely. On a budget of nearly $6 million dollars, Williams and her associates brought together 122 nations (members of the United Nations) and convinced them to sign a treaty in 1997 banning the usage of landmines. To this day, ICBL is a collective of over 1,000 NGO's.
Although the event was deemed a lecture, Williams preferred to be informal and treated the time more as a personal discussion on how she became internationally involved and briefly described her anti-landmine campaign as a basis in describing what it means for her to be an activist. Using what Vice President of Student Affairs, José Magdaleno called a "down to earth" tone, Williams proceeded to speak a message of encouragement for both young and old alike to actively participate in their communities. "I hope when I speak; if I only influence one person to do better than we have done… imagine the contributions to the world," she said.
Students from both Lehman College and the High School of American Studies, which resides on the campus, were present in the audience. One Lehman Freshman, Lang Ly, 17, stated that, "The way she [Williams] talked to us, she treated us like equals." Amy Helfacre, 26, another Lehman College Freshman, said, "She opened my eyes to things I never thought about before."
 Media Credit: Osjua Newton Nobel Prize winner Jody Williams addresses the Lehman Community |
Mr. Magdelano was quite taken with Williams's talk. "I'd like to think that her speech is going to stimulate people," he said, "to reflect on their life experiences, and stimulate students to review the issues that are important to them and consider the importance of finding a way that makes sense for them to give back to the community and to the world."
In addition to inviting Williams to deliver the memorial lecture, Lehman College also presented her with an honorary Ph.D. in Humane Letters.
Though Williams's speech was capable of enlightening students' minds to issues outside of their daily lives, the enthusiasm of becoming of an active participant in their community our in the world wasn't equally on par. "Literally now, I will be involved if there is something, but I wouldn't organize it," said Helfacre.
If the efforts and success of Williams campaign to eliminate landmines are to be used as an example, then anyone is capable of creating an organization with time and commitment.
"My dad taught me," said Williams, "'Do the right thing when nobody is looking.' It is really easy to do the right thing when people are looking at you; when nobody is looking at you, that's when you should really do the right thing."