Have you ever experienced the bitter–sweet feeling of being proved wrong?
When I first saw that Emma Watson had been chosen by the UN to be the UN Women’s Goodwill Ambassador, and was releasing HeforShe Campaign at the 69th United Nations General Assembly in New York. I thought, Why her? She is only a girl… how old is she? Has she experienced enough to represent all the women in the world? I wouldn’t waste my time watching her speech…but for some reason, this stayed in my mind during the week.
Emma Watson in New York, UN Photo/MarkGarten
I’ve never watched any of the Harry Potter movies, they’ve never particularly called my attention. But I am aware of how big they are around the world and how many fans they have. Its funny when someone gets famous when they’re still a child, it seems that they will never grow. What I didn’t realise though, was that unintentionally I had transferred the same lack of interest I had for Harry Potter, to Emma Watson, and two days after her speech, while reading the news I saw this headline: “Her Voice Might Tremble, But Emma Watson’s Message Is Strong And Clear”. That caught my attention, now I had to watch it! And I am glad to say that on the first two minutes of the video I enjoyed the bitter–sweet feeling of being proved wrong.
Emma Watson is shown to be a strong young woman. She proved (to people like me) that is not what makes her a celebrity that gives her the ownership to talk about difficult subjects; it is what she has in common with each one of us. It was her life experience; it was her friend’s experiences and the impetuous to see a change in our society. Suffering and inequality don’t reach only adults and people from developing countries.
Funny enough, while I was writing this blog, another headline popped in my screen. Victoria Beckham is announced as UNAIDS goodwill ambassador (during the same UN General Assembly in New York) and will “work towards ensuring that all children are born free from HIV”. I always thought she was a woman of few words, but it was good to see used the right ones!
We’ve all had times that we’ve had to speak out for someone, or at least in situations that we wished we could have done it. All of that makes me think if I am ready to put myself in a vulnerable position of defending others?
Take a moment to think about your childhood heroes… were they from comic books? From TV? What about our teenage heroes… Pop stars, Fashion designers, Sports personalities… and our lifetime heroes… our parents, teachers, our lectures… I could keep listing them all, but the point is, they weren’t perfect. Even heroes have human struggles
We have our own little audience, a little stage and an imaginary microphone that is waiting for us to speak out loud that we always believed that had to be heard. It can be at the dinner table among our family, or at work during a weekly staff meeting. Wherever it is, what is it that you want to talk about? No matter how old or powerful you are, you don’t need to be nominated to do good. Be prepared, in season and out of season, there is no set time to do good.
If you don’t know who this “Harry Potter girl” is, have a look at the video below and take your own conclusions. Emma Watson talking about the HeforShe UN campaign, a solidarity movement for gender equality. http://youtu.be/gkjW9PZBRfk
I don’t know if I will ever watch Harry Potter, but I will give time to Emma Watson again.
Analice Mina Collyer
@AnaliceMina
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