 Did you ever have one of those days where you thought to
yourself that things are so complicated or screwed up that there's not
much hope left for the world? Well, I have the perfect antidote: Move This World!
Move This World uses creative movement as a vehicle to transform
conflict, violence and bullying. They work mostly with school
children, but also corporations, universities, and community
organizations. Move This World was started by Sara LaHayne Potler in
Bogota Columbia while there on a Fulbright Scholarship.
One day at recess, watching several students rock out to reggaeton
music on a boom box in the school parking lot, she had a world-changing
insight. She saw how inspired the kids were through their laughter and
movement. It was then that she approached the school�s PE teacher to
discuss how she could use something all of the Colombian students loved
� music and dance � to inspire the same social, emotional, and civic
skills being taught in a classroom setting to pretty poor reception.
The Move This World movement was born.
Today Move This World is in schools in all five boroughs of New York
City as well as schools in DC, Baltimore, and Newark. Over 10,000
kids have been through the program. There are also activities in
Latin America and the Philippines. And the joy it spreads, one person
at a time, is totally contagious.
I met Sara this weekend and she is an amazing leader, savvy, spirited,
and a total workaholic with a deep understanding of emotional
resilience and how to use it to transform the climate of a school,
agency, company, or community.
There are so many people in the world who are dedicating their lives to
good. Sara is one of them. Just hanging out with someone who has
powerful vision and is working to bring it to life can transform any
despair lurking in the recesses of your mind into optimism and faith in
humanity. Find someone this week who inspires you and take them out for
coffee.
Everything that is
done in the world is done by hope.
- Martin Luther
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