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My Manifesto

Jayda Van Dyke

Humanities 1100

Mr. Caleb Prusso

My Manifesto
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My Manifesto

My Manifesto

1. Identify an ideal, belief or value that is important to you.

A value important to me is kindness. It is a value that can change an entire situation on its own

and it is not restricted to one method of use. Anyone can be kind and anyone can use kindness to

make a positive impact. There are times that a person’s personal kindness might be taken

advantage of, that will happen but it is better to learn when to apply kindness instead of

constantly being ruthless to protect yourself.

2. Identify a broader social issue that aligns with your value

A broader social issue that aligns with kindness is poverty. Most people in poverty are not there

by choice and in fact a majority of the time it is not the poverty that hurts them, but the fact that

they think people perceive them as invisible. Giving people tangible things is not the only way to

battle poverty, although it does help significantly. When you give to others and make them feel

seen, it is going to help them a lot more than recording yourself giving them things. If you record

yourself spreading kindness it is not real kindness and it just makes the receiver feel like they are

a selling point instead of a person, but they cannot afford to refuse your help. Make them feel

seen and appreciated without mocking them.

3. Shrink the Change: Identify a civic engagement activity you have completed or

will complete that would address this issue

A civic engagement activity that I am currently doing is a sock drive for the Abuse Survivors

Foundation of Utah. Being a survivor of abuse is a very hard thing and escaping that abuse is a

heroic action because it is very difficult. Most abuse victims have been conditioned to rely
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My Manifesto

financially and emotionally on their abusers. This mean that when survivors do escape they often

have very little. This can put them in the poverty category at times especially when they seek

refuge at shelters. People in need are most often in need of socks, but they tend to be the least

donated item. By doing a sock drive and donating socks I can help these survivors and give them

a boost on their journey to healing. Not only will I be including socks, but unisex messages to

encourage them and let them know that someone does care about them. Even if socks are the

least donated items now, by doing this drive I can spread that awareness and chip away at the

problem. The hope is that I can inspire others to start donating socks to help others and employ

the value of kindness.

1. 4. Connect this with a theme and a specific reading in the course; provide at least one

reference from the text to demonstrate your point.

I would connect my manifesto with the theme of diversity and difference. There is always going

to be conflict in the world and that conflict often stems from people fighting over their

differences. People are different and when you approach them with kindness and understanding

those differences become not a reason to fight, but a reason to unite and solve those differences.

If a difference cannot be solved then it can be understood and respected and moved past. A great

example to demonstrate this is the song “The Plane Wreck at Los Gatos”. This poem describes

the hardships of immigrants that seek work and stable futures in America. The difficulties they

face are not appreciated or understood by anyone else and instead of coming to a point of

understanding, immigrants are referred to as deportees. This label of deportee makes it easier to

discard these people like they are not real human beings. If immigrants were treated with
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My Manifesto

kindness and understanding they would get paid fair wages and treated like the essential workers

that they are. If immigrants were treated with kindness they would be understood and

appreciated. Kindness is the key when it comes to solving the differences between groups of

people.