Global Dialogues

It’s easy to feel powerless, especially when our phones are continuously buzzing with news updates, our relationships fracture due to differences, and our personal struggles continue daily. And somehow, the answer for our powerlessness does not begin with control. It starts with building community and trust.I was reminded of this idea of community and inclusivity during a theology course at Georgetown. During the course, we visited a young Syrian girl living in Marka refugee camp in Amman, Jordan. In our eyes, she could have embodied powerlessness. Her family couldn’t afford to turn their heating unit on, they could barely afford their meals, and her family was spread across continents as refugees. Yet, she chose power through vulnerability and trust. By opening her home to us and telling us her story, she built a community that transcended class, geographical, and religious divides.

Her trust was an act of risk. She hadn’t known how we would react or if we would engage with her. But her action showed me what an inclusive and borderless community could look like. In his final address, Pope Francis, said, “I would like all of us to hope anew and to revive our trust in others, including those who are different than ourselves, or who come from distant lands, bringing unfamiliar customs, ways of life and ideas! For all of us are children of God!”

This era of powerlessness which we are all experiencing coincides with the era of loneliness. Whether it’s transitioning from zoom classes or remote work, we feel like our lives are flying by without our say. Perhaps, it’s because we feel so disconnected from one another and think that trust is about agreement, when it’s really about vulnerability. The most successful social and political movements in history were only possible because of each participants’ willingness to trust one another and themselves. It was about risk and belief, choosing connection over fear.

Today’s political movements thrive through isolation, division, and distrust within one another. It is why our country has seen unprecedented levels of political polarization and why neighbors have been turned against one another. If we take Pope Francis’ call to trust and fraternity seriously, we would understand that it is something that needs to be ingrained within our communities, our policies, and our governments. It starts with expanding aid for refugee communities, investing in education, and a shared belief in our common humanity. Put simply, it begins with seeing every individual as having equal power through their humanity.

So maybe the answer to creating these inclusive communities requires a simple plan which is within all of our capabilities. It asks us to listen to the person we could never imagine chatting with, to attend the event that pushes us out of our comfort zone, and to share our spaces and stories with people different from ourselves. We are not the powerless generation. We are the ones who can choose trust and build inclusive communities that our world desperately needs.

Maya Mohosin (C'27) is a junior in the College of Arts & Sciences at Georgetown University.