The University Scholars Leadership Symposium

“I put myself into this prison of perfection; I was too concerned about myself,” said the Founder and Artistic Director of Hong Kong Generation Next Arts, Michelle Kim, in a speech she has given about overcoming fear, which was among many other influential speeches that were pleasantly organised by The University Scholars Leadership Symposium (USLS) in Hong Kong in 2015. In spite of the fact I have always made sure to take down considerable amount of notes and start a record at every intellectual and political prominence of such powerful presentations. However, I was familiar with that particular sentence I quoted above, which has frequently sounded just as silent to my ears for several months. In a brief moment, I laid my pen down to the ground, and elevated my head to an extent I could watch a coherent flow of invisible words performing an act of habitual patterns called mental phenomena. I was striving against a series of descending steps that consistently exhibited multidimensional scales of traits known as: maladaptive perfectionism. This made me think of why I critically evaluate myself in hope to achieve as high as a conscientious worker, but only to create cognitive dissonance to myself.

The word prison is often defined as a punishment to be physically bounded by walls, but how many of us are aware of this prison they are trapped in mentally? Who was to first distinguish reality from fantasy, right from wrong? What is a flaw if our genes are distinct, and how do we become flawless?

The tacit knowledge that I have come home with has anchored a structural base of a well balanced pathway to reach my goals, and that was by addressing my issues, which have limited my freedom and restricted me from moving forward. We need to confront ourselves first before engaging in any social activity. To change the world is not by changing a population of more than 7 billion; it is by changing 1 out of 7 billion.

The dualism between humans and nature is that we are composed of mainly just a brain. The brain is a forceful organ that makes us who were are, and we are to decide who we wish to become. Humans are feelings, emotions, sensations that influence on our behaviours more than the body that we are covered in. If our conscious existence is unique to everyone just like our fingerprints, then why do we wear a smiling mask on a daily basis to cover who we truly are? Why do we carry a mirror as exactly the same length and width as our bodies to become a reflection of society’s satisfaction? Selfishness is not a shame, it is purely loving yourself, and by loving yourself you are enhancing your own happiness, which has a similar definition of selflessness, but not entirely the exact meaning. Every decision we make is a selfish act; therefore, doing good to others, is still doing good to your own intuitive feelings in return.

One of the most important points that I have highlighted at the Humanitarian Affairs, is that power is purchased by money. The world is not operated by a president, monarchy, or even any human or a family; the world is ruled by money.

To appreciate peace and understand what others go through, we must walk in their shoes, be put in their position and feel their pain by living it, not just listening. Experience is the key to progress a fierce of enthusiasm to be actively motivated and step forward. In order for someone to passionately offer help to those in need for a shoulder to lean on, they must go through their aching pain and suffer the pain. There is no alternative to that, but the world should unite and feel for each other. The mortality rate will rapidly decrease if peace ever made it to the new history. To emphasise is different from sympathise, we must acknowledge our emotional boundaries and mental capacity of our imaginations.

I must admit that I am shameful to say that I never knew the meaning of a "refugee" because I did not know of its existence. I woke up one morning, and was instructed to not take my phone or any of my belongings during for a trip I was clueless about. We were taken to a campus where they perform a refugee simulation, and you become a refugee for less than a day. We reached our destination--a massive land with considerable deconstructions and bombed buildings. Where in the world am I, and when did this war began?! "You are in a simulation of a refugee camp with real soldiers that just returned from the war, and most of them were under military commands involving refugee operations." An ex-refugee tried many refugee simulations after their survival, and said that this simulation was the closest to reality in comparison to all other ones around the world, and yet it is only 7% of the real experience.

We were a large group, directed to enter a previously exploded building, were taken up the stairs were great care to not fall, then got pushed into a small room. This was the moment I added a new word to my dictionary: refugee. I learned in not from a dictionary or a defining sentence, there were no words to read in order to understand who I am supposed, except for a tiny piece of paper that was thrown at me and told, "this is your new identity," "but that's not my name, my age, or anything that defines me." "Shut up and learn it well. This is an alternative to a passport in which you do not own anymore; therefore, if you told them wrong details as exactly as written on the paper including the date of birth and full spelling and correct pronunciation of your name at the boarders, you will get killed." The definition of the word refugee was expanding each millisecond, and suddenly I was under the stress of learning my new identification. I tried to catch the words and letters to practice and memorise as fast as possible, but suddenly, my vision went black. There was no time to process the cause, whether it's a shut down of electricity or brain electricity. Screaming, everyone was screaming. The army broke into the small room that we were all sitting on our knees trying to make some space, but were forced to lay on the ground with our hands above our heads and their military armaments pointed at our skulls, "If someone made a single movement or noise, they will be shot!" Another voice came from far in the middle of the sound of bombs and gunshots whilst the building was shaking, "Run! come this way to escape! We must reach the boarders, do not worry about your family, worry about yourself because many of them will take a bullet for you."

It was the most horrifying moments of my life, despite the fact I knew it will be over soon, but I could not stop shaking and feared for my life. Additionally, it was the biggest moment that opened me up to the world and felt reborn again.

There is a short video that was taken during our simulation and can be found on Youtube, although it only caught the most considered peaceful moments during the experience because filming was difficult in the middle of actual bombs and physical attacks.

Throughout all my life, I have never been conscious of what was going around the world, and I am in absolute shock that I remember myself saying: I was blind until I saw it with my own eyes.

YouTube Links: 6th University Scholars Leadership Symposium 2015 Refugee Run

Copyright © 2015 Yara Aljefri