I'm Shy, but I Became an Activist - And You Can, Too! | Olivia Seltzer | TEDxSaintAndrewsSchool
[Music] [Applause] my name is olivia seltzer and i'm an 18 year old youth activist but i don't need marches i don't hold signs i don't stage sit-ins or walk-outs in fact i'm completely terrified right now let me explain my entire life i've been painfully shy talking to people friends strangers anyone proved a near impossible task i struggled with feelings of intense social anxiety i would feel nauseous before meeting with friends even close ones my heart will be pounding so loud i could hear it and i'd find myself up at night over an upcoming social activity often i'd avoid social interaction altogether at the same time i found myself becoming increasingly passionate about the world and the people in it i'd spend hours discussing the use of my parents and even longer thinking about all the things that needed to be fixed in the world by the time i was a teenager i knew i wanted to do something to affect serious lasting change i just didn't know how everywhere i looked i saw incredible examples of young people making a difference malala yousafzai who won the nobel peace prize at age 17 for her work and girls education was my hero and a sign that growing numbers of our generation were taking a stand for what they believed in and better yet people were listening but there was a problem i saw no real way i could get involved every kind of activism i was seeing involved organizing marches or public speaking or even just putting together a group of friends and as someone who identifies as shy introverted and socially anxious none of those things are an option we're taught that activism requires certain qualities qualities that i don't possess in fact according to a forbes article it's estimated that at least half the population are introverts the definition of which is a shy person so how could someone like that possibly be an activist at least the kind that i was seeing i'm going to pause here for a little anecdote about five years ago when i was 12 years old the united states had its presidential election and which one candidate was sharply against immigration i attended a junior high school where the majority of the students were latinx many of whom were the children of undocumented immigrants personally my grandfather was a jewish mexican immigrant who illegally came to the us before eventually getting citizenship so you can see how this election was deeply personal both to me and the hundreds of students at my junior high school after the results came out all anyone could talk about was the election as someone who's always been very political i was even more activated by this event and i could see that others were too the election exposed the massive interest my generation has in the news and in politics but there was an equally massive problem my generation wasn't reading or watching the news which left this massive interest without an outlet it's not hard to understand why if you read the news any news the reporters and journalists are all going to be adults similarly their intended reader is not going to be someone of my age group try watching the news and you'll see ads for fighting hair loss well that might be a problem for me eventually certainly not one now and that's because but again no one's expecting someone of my age to be consuming the news this creates media that's completely inaccessible for teens and young adults not just because the news is not intended for us but also because it's written in a way that's unfortunately not very engaging or understandable for young people i saw this as a huge problem for a variety of reasons every day something goes on in the world that affects countless lives and if we don't know about these things we're doing a serious disservice to the people being affected for a very big reason you can't change the world unless you know about it meaning how can we be expected to create change if we don't even know where chains needs to be made short answer is we can't because there was no new source for teens and adults and because we then weren't reading or watching the news you're missing out on the opportunity to participate in the making of our future not only that but we are being robbed of our chance to help those in need it's just that simple i'll make it even simpler one of the most important aspects of being human is the fact that we're bipedal which means we walk on two legs the reason for this is because apes were thought to evolve from lived in areas with tall grasses on four limbs it was impossible to see over these grasses however the instant apes began walking upright they could suddenly see the world around them which enabled them to ask questions this ability to take in the world and wonder is what makes us human in other words our ability to take information and innovate based on that information the problem was i found my generation was unable to do this for the basic reason that we weren't being given this information in the first place that's why in february 2017 i decided to create the crown each morning i wake up at 5am to read the news create relevant stories and rewrite them in a way that speaks to generation z then i send this out in a quick informational and woody email text and social media post our mission is to educate and activate and our readers come from over 113 countries all over the world from here in the u.s to india from the united kingdom to australia and from pakistan to china you have we have over 500 youth ambassadors and i'm proud and honored to say our newsletters now have two and a half million monthly views because of the cram i've had first-time voters tell me they now feel confident while heading to the polls i've had young people begin having the important conversations about the issues that matter i've even had teens tell me they organized marches against sexual assault or gun violence at their schools i found this incredible i had started the cram because i saw a problem that needed to be solved and because i knew i could solve that problem once i come once i came up the idea there was no hesitation i confidently thought i can do this i've always loved writing so spending hours each day typing up newsletter wasn't an obstacle as an introvert waking up at five every morning to write all by myself was actually comfortable for me so you could say that writing is my skill set the crazy thing is my writing began inspiring others to start doing the things i can't do like for example organizing a march and that's the point activism takes many forms everyone has a skill set people commonly hear about issues they think they can't fix for example i know i can't use my mind to cure cancer bring a human to mars that's just not where my skill sets lie but what i can do is educate people about the problems facing our world so they can use their individual skill sets to find solutions here's the truth everyone can be an activist everyone can make the world a better place that's my strongest belief in life and that's what i work towards at the cram because the crime isn't about my success it's about the success of the readers it's about uplifting young people around the world by helping them understand that their skill sets can be used to make a difference regardless of what those skill sets may be there's no mold for activism there's no checklist you need to mark off activism means different things to different people but most importantly there's no person alive who can't create a sizable tangible change when it comes to activism the words i can't do it shouldn't exist helping people isn't off limits for this person or that person it's something we all need to be a part of and once we realize that that's when we're able to truly change the world you're all individually unique we all have something to offer we are all capable of using our skill sets for good and we are all every single one of us activists so i want everyone to pause right now and take a second to think who are you what are you good at what do you care about what is the problem you see in this world and what is something you can do to solve that problem i want everyone to hold that last answer in their minds because as soon as i'm done speaking i want you all to go solve your problem it might sound hard but trust me it's easy to have a positive influence on the world so everyone stand up and stand up stand up like the primitive humans before us look above the tall grasses and around at the world and find something to stand for thank you [Applause]