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Prevention Action Alliance
Tell
the World Who You Are
2018 We Are The Majority Rally April 30
The psychologist Carl Jung said, “The world will ask you who you are,
and if you do not know, the world will tell you.” Today, I’d suggest
that the world doesn’t even ask—it jumps straight to telling you who
you are.
Young people today know this well. Everywhere they go, people are
telling them that they’re lazy, entitled, disconnected from their
communities, too connected to technology, and using drugs in record
numbers.
Everyone is telling them who they are, and few people even bother to
ask them anymore.
In the two years I’ve been at Prevention Action Alliance, I’ve gotten
to know the young people that serve on our Ohio Youth-Led Prevention
Network Youth Council. I’m always impressed with their intelligence,
dedication, and passion for prevention.
They’ve fielded questions from reporters about mental illness and drug
use, participated in an Ohio Department of Commerce panel on underage
drinking prevention, advocated for prevention with our state and
federal legislators, and given presentations on prevention to adults
and young people across Ohio and in Washington D.C. I’ve seen these
reporters and legislators’ eyes open as they realize that while these
young people are teenagers, they’re very knowledgeable ambassadors for
prevention.
The We Are The Majority Rally gives young people an opportunity to show
the world who they really are. It gives them a voice to speak with, a
stage to make their message heard, and an audience to hear it. Most
importantly, it amplifies all the things they’re already saying about
who they are. As OYLPN Youth Council alumnus Sahana Jayaraman said:
“It’s our day to show Ohio that the majority of their youth are leaders
in their community, are making an impact, and are choosing positive
paths for their lives.”
I invite you to take part in this special day and to have the voice of
your youth amplified as they tell the world who they are. Registration
for the WATM Rally is currently live, and you can register at
preventionactionalliance.org/watm. I hope you’ll consider joining me
and the hundreds of young people who will be at the WATM Rally.
If you register you and your youth by April 3, we can guarantee your
T-shirt sizes. After April 3, we will try—but cannot guarantee—to
accommodate all shirt sizes.
Get more information on the WATM Rally here
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