Hakuna Matata

Source: http://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/oct/06/the-lion-king-3d-film-review

I recently went to see The Lion King Musical and was inspired by the story. The Lion King, a story about a lion cub named Simba, whose power hungry Uncle Scar, killed his father, convinced Simba it was his fault, and told him to run away from his problems into the jungle. There are some days where I feel just like Simba, where I think running away is the only answer to my problems. And I'm sure there are days where you feel similar as well. But Simba eventually had to face his problems, and was able to save Pride Rock. And just like Simba, we too need to face our problems and find ways to sustain ourselves in tough times.

When Simba decided to face his Uncle Scar and come head on with his problems he had his family and friends, a crazy monkey named Rafiki, and faith in his strength of mind, to help sustain himself. You could say that these things were his Hakuna Matata. The things that helped him realise he didn't need to worry because he would be able to deal with these issues. This got me thinking, what things do I use to sustain myself? What do I do to conquer my own Pride Rock? What makes my Hakuna Matata?

There are three things that always get me through.
1. Friends
2. Sad Movies
3. Reading Books

Friends.
Just like Simba I rely on my friends. There is nothing better than asking hearing a different perspective on your situation from them or even just hanging out to take your mind off what's going on. And getting a hug from your friend is probably the best thing of all. My friends always find ways to make me laugh and help me realise that, hey maybe things aren't all that bad.

Source: http://youqueen.com/life/personal-development/how-to-want-what-you-have-and-adopt-the-attitude-of-gratitude/

Sad Movies.
As strange as it may sound, when things aren't going all that well I like to sit and watch sad movies. There is something oddly therapeutic about crying your eyes out to The Note Book, sobbing loudly whilst watching Titanic or balling when Mufasa is pushed off the cliff in The Lion King. I find that watching sad movies lets me release my stress and sadness. I walk away feeling clearer and can face the challenge with a more open mind.

Source: http://www.shape.com/weight-loss/weight-maintenance/gaining-weight-blame-your-favorite-tearjerkers

Reading Books.

When I read, I lose myself in another world. I imagine myself sitting and watching the whole story unfold in their world. When I read Harry Potter, I was at Hogwarts watching it all happen. When I read Twilight, (I was young, I didn't realise how terrible it was) I was at Forks High School with Bella and Edward. Books let me distract myself from what I'm having to deal with. Instead I deal with the imaginary problems of the characters in the books.

Source: http://www.futureofeducation.com/profiles/blogs/7-inspiring-and-motivational-books-to-read-in-2015

These things are what make up my Hakuna Matata, my problem free philosophy. They help me worry and stress less, and just deal with the problem head on. Everyone has their own Hakuna Matata in their lives. Identifying them helps us deal with stressful situations and sustain ourselves. So today, I leave you with a question. 

What does Hakuna Matata mean to you?

Source: LionKingSongs

Building bridges

I'm going to give you two words, and in the comments I want you to write the first thing that pops into your head. Ready?

Nuclear power.

I imagine a lot of you thought of the bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki or the radiation leakage in Fukushima. For lot of people, that's more or less where our knowledge ends. However there is a group of people who know more about nuclear power and yet we rarely hear their knowledge. This group of people are atomic scientists. Specifically those that focus their research on nuclear energy.

These scientists know multitudes about the safety, reliability and more about nuclear power, yet we hardly hear from them. There is a gap between what they know and what we know. This gap is not exclusive to nuclear power but extends to all science.

"There is a gap between what science knows and what society does."- Rowan Brookes

Some of the planks on the bridge need to be put on by scientists as they learn to communicate with the public more effectively. But some of those planks can be put on by us. By learning more we can help piece the bridge together.

Here are a few things that you could do to help you start placing the planks on the bridge between science and public opinion. We'll start by focusing on nuclear power.
1. Learn more about nuclear power.
Jump on Google or YouTube, type in nuclear power, see what pops up.
A few friends and I have made a video about nuclear power to help get you started. We've tried to summarise all the key information for you.

Here are a few other useful videos.

2. Share your knowledge.
Now you know about nuclear power, but there are many that don't. They might have some misconceptions, try and clear it up for them.

References:
Image:
AJB's Photos 2010, A wooden bridge through the woods, online image, viewed 28 August 2015, https://ajbp.wordpress.com/tag/wooden-bridge/
Video:
SciShow 2013, The World's First Human-Made Nuclear Reactor, online video, viewed 15 August 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLJ1ebNcNLM
vlogbrothers 2011, Japan's Nuclear Disaster Explained, online video, viewed 15 August 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBvUtY0PfB8
Veritasium 2015, A Walk Around Chernobyl, online video, viewed 15 August 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DWnjcSo9J0
Veritasium 2014, The Most Radioactive Places on Earth, online video, viewed 15 August 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRL7o2kPqw0
Veritasium 2011, Radiation vs Radioactive Atoms, online video, viewed 15 August 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sehKAccM8p0

Old geezer

"Youth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind; it is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees; it is a matter of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigour of the emotions; it is the freshness of the deep springs of life." Samuel Ullman

When I began university, I thought that the most important change in global issues came from the physically young. It makes sense, the youth are the future of our world, so why wouldn't their contribution be more important?

And to an extent, I was right. The most important change IS from today's youth. But youth has a very different meaning to what I originally thought.

These are people within my life, that I consider leaders of change in global challenges. Some are from organisations such as Rosies, a mission that works with the homeless. Others lead in smaller ways, such as the education of others on Indigenous Australian rights. 

All are of different ages. All are making a difference. And all of them are youthful. How can this be, you may say? Youthfulness is not dependent on age, rather it is dependent on attitude, (Landone 1988).

The old geezer- someone who is unnecessarily critical of new things and approaches problems with anger and frustration.
The young one- someone who is open to creating and receiving new ideas, and approaches problems with vigour and optimism.

When we are facing a challenge, we can come at it with two different attitudes. We can either be the old geezer, unwilling to listen, or we can be the young one, open to new things. Successful leadership is making sure the young one wins out against our inner old geezer.

"Let your passion drive your approach to leadership." Yap Soo Huey

By embracing our inner youthfulness we are letting passion drive our actions. People are attracted to this enthusiasm and will be drawn to us and the global challenge we want to overcome.

Our actions affect the people we are bringing with us on this journey towards change, and so the youthful and passion driven approach is important. If they seem disinterested we should take a step back and consider our own attitude. (Shankman, Allen, Haber-Curran 2015)

The reason their disinterest may be because we seem disinterested and are letting the old geezer win. By being excited and interested in what we are working towards, we encourage others to feel the same, (Bennis 2000).

Think about it, when you see someone who is enthusiastic and happy, it's hard not to feel the same way. Passion and positivity is contagious, and embracing our youthfulness helps us spread this to those we are leading towards change.

To get a real understanding of how youthfulness influences our ability to solve global challenges lets take a look at an example.

The United Nations contains leaders from many countries that create resolutions they agree to follow in order to help solve global challenges.

In Libya in 2011, the then current leader, Colonel Ghaddafi, began large scale systematic killing of those against his regime. In order to stop this the United Nations needed to consider R2P, responsibility to protect. This document outlines the responsibility of a country's government and the international community to protect the citizens of that country. These ideas are fairly new in terms of dealing with unjust killing and are highly contested.

In using this new idea, the United Nations had to fight with their inner old geezers who were telling them to stick with the status quo and use old policy and ideas. They didn't let the old geezer win, and intervention in Libya was allowed to occur, to stop these killings.

There is also a smaller division in the United Nations that is present in Australia called the United Nations Youth Australia.

Last year when the G20 was held in Australia, they held a Global Development Summit. Here young Australians had the opportunity to learn about economic prosperity, and could contribute their ideas on what the G20 should focus discussions on. After the summit, the organisation compiled a letter with all of the ideas discussed and sent it to the G20 talks where it was used to help guide their approach to the challenges of economic prosperity.

This initiative took advantage of the young Australians who had embraced their inner youthfulness and hence had passion and energy when looking at these issues.

We can see the United Nations knows being youthful is about your attitude, and that having a youthful attitude can mean the difference between success and failure.

When you walk away today, take this with you;
Youthfulness= attitude + passion NOT AGE
You can be a 'young one' or and 'old geezer'.

And last but not least...

Don't let the old geezer win.

References:
Text:
Landone, B 1988, Beginning Youth, Society of Metaphysicians, United States
Shankman, M, Allen, S & Haber-Curan, P 2008, Emotionally Intelligent Leadership, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco
Bennis, W 2000, Managing the Dream: Reflections on Leadership and Change, Perseus Publishing, New York
Video:
United Nations 2011, UN urges Libyan authorities to respect freedoms, ensure protection of civilians, online video, viewed May 26 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1C0BBfzxKc
UN Youth Australia, Global Development Summit - Your G20, online video, viewed May 26 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0wIB2MTGog