Nikola Yager is a member of Philanthropiece’s Youth Global Leadership Program. She is a Junior at Boulder High School and an inspiring young changemaker. Nikola is a love- and light-giving source, and she has a few shining words about understanding and compassion to share with us today.
“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting their own battles.” -Plato
In addition to personal encounters here in Boulder, I try to use this idea when I am a traveler in an unknown environment. Sometimes the acceptance of not knowing is the best form of understanding. I believe we can be fuller people if we withhold our judgment, which is formed on a teeny-tiny subjective basis, and instead give ourselves up to the power of being an oblivious learner in a big world!
I also believe personal growth is achieved by stretching oneself, by plucking and scraping at the foundation of who we think we are. We can grow back stronger, more wholesome, and more grateful by challenging ourselves to step out of what we find familiar. And by learning about what lies beyond the “Boulder Bubble”- or the even smaller bubble we think inside of- we learn about ourselves. This is why the opportunity to participate in the Youth Global Leadership program means a lot to me- to learn. To learn about volunteering, to learn about the world, to learn about each other, and– through all of these things- to learn about myself.
This wonderful image was captured from an application Nikola submitted for YGL.
