Last week, I attended the 2019 Global Engagement Summit at the United Nations to partake in millennial-led efforts to address the top challenges facing our world. From climate change and women’s rights to world hunger and political populism, there are many great challenges we have yet to overcome as a collective human race.
Thankfully, as I witnessed at the summit, college students and young leaders from around the world stand ready to do their part in solving these challenges with the intellect, passion and enthusiasm necessary to create meaningful change. I was encouraged by the more than 1,500 attendees who took time out of their busy schedules to fly to New York City and engage in lively forum discussions about how we can best improve the conditions of human lives worldwide.
I know that meaningful change can and will come when the American people and their leaders fully understand and appreciate the role of the United Nations in international affairs. Americans should properly fund and support UN efforts to improve the lives of people whom we may never come to know or hear of but who are nonetheless valuable and worthy of our support and attention.
We live in an increasingly globalized world— one where the integration of economies and cultures continues to occur, despite the recent rise of exclusion and isolationism in the United States and other parts of the world. It is my fervent belief that the causes of human progress and the universal longing for enlightened thought to trump politics of fear are ever-present in the hearts and minds of all people who seek to live in a place where better tomorrows are within reach for everyone.
That’s why the United Nations Association of the United States of America— an organization committed to mobilizing support for the United Nations— hosted the 2019 Global Engagement Summit to support and mobilize youthful voices from communities, colleges and association groups nationwide. The organization leaders know what we as members of the Canes family already know to be true: It is incumbent upon us, the future leaders of the United States, to enact forward-thinking change in line with the inclusive values we all share.
As an alumnus of the University of Miami, I always take pride in the strength we have from our community’s diversity and openness to change. It is my hope to one day live in a world where these values are welcomed by all peoples, for I know we will all benefit when the promise of better a tomorrow is within reach for everyone.
David Saul Acosta is 2016 UM alumnus.