Hello, World-- Says the Scrappy Kid with Something to Say

As the cliché goes, ‘when life gives you lemons, make some lemonade.’ So, when life throws you an assignment that asks you to look deep within yourself and figure out what your personal life vision is, and then how you can make this personal vision a reality, you…

Huh.

This question might be one sentence but to answer it is damn near impossible without doing some soul-searching.

Perhaps the problem with this question is that in some ways I am scared of reflecting. In my head, the world is large, full of vast spaces, and sometimes a mess of thoughts.

How can this mess be rectified? I have all these ideas, but they are disorganized and this frustrates me. I need a way to translate this frustration into ACTION. I have a voice, but I need to shape this voice and have the guidance to put down my thoughts in an organized fashion. In other words, I want to explain my jumbled up manifestations in a way that allows others to see my vision and why it is important.

In essence, I have the willpower, I have the passion, but I need a way to funnel it and express it to others so that they get impassioned too. This is why I need the help of the mentors that the VOF Correspondents are providing. Hey, a lion can ROAR but the ROAR had better make sense!

So—here is my vision, presented in the best of my ability.

I am but one person, a small puzzle piece in a world of puzzle pieces, but I have the ability to affect many other puzzle pieces. I believe that with grassroots campaigns as a young activist, I can slowly deliver change to my mother country of Vietnam. I can get this world to understand that freedom of speech and peaceful assembly is a universal human right. I wish for a day when it is easy to travel to and from Vietnam and not worry about sudden ‘disappearances’. I wish for a day where one can access all websites without worrying about hitting information firewalls.

I know I am young and I have a lot to learn, but I was blessed with the opportunity of an education, and born into a free-thinking society that allows me to develop my critical thought skills. I wish to use these advantages to help people who do not have a voice.

With WorldPulse, my voice would have more force, and more persuasion. I want to shout to the world—

“Holy crap, there are injustices! This is what I’m going to do about it!” —And then get right to business.

Call it tenacity, call it scrappiness, but I wish for my home country to be a better place and I am not going to stop until it happens. In order for this to happen, I need to arm myself with better citizen journalist skills, which is why I am hoping that World Pulse will pick me as one of the thirty to give guidance to. I hope I can translate this guidance into a tangible hope for my fellow brothers and sisters back home, and make a real difference.

Like the main page of says,

“No one speaks for me. I speak for myself.”

I DO speak for myself—but I would love the help to make my voice ring more true and clear.

Thank you for ride of the last four weeks, World Pulse.
It’s been a blast.

Chi-Linh Dinh
Canada