Anyone Can Change the World: The Animated Wisdom of Nobel Peace Prize Winner Jody Williams

Here’s a lit­tle ani­ma­tion for those times when the unlike­li­hood of win­ning pub­lic recog­ni­tion for your work has you deject­ed to the point of inac­tion.

Chil­dren are repeat­ed­ly told that they can change the world, and, in my expe­ri­ence, most of them seem to believe that this is true.

How is it, then, that so many adults are par­a­lyzed by feel­ings of pow­er­less­ness? Did some­thing hap­pen in mid­dle school, or are the prob­lems of the world so immense? (Both, prob­a­bly.) Why both­er, right?

Activist Jody Williams may have won a Nobel Prize, but she’s also a fan of start­ing small.

The Roy­al Soci­ety for the Arts enlist­ed ani­ma­tor Katy Davis to mine William’s lec­ture  “Any­one Can Change the World” for its nar­ra­tive pos­si­bil­i­ties. It’s a good argu­ment against suc­cumb­ing to the siren song of your flat screen TVs. It’s also a good argu­ment for engag­ing with your com­mu­ni­ty.

Williams cru­sad­ed against land mines, but her advice holds true for more mod­est endeav­ors, too, be it school lunch pol­i­cy reform or fin­ish­ing that nov­el or short sto­ry.

If a cou­ple of min­utes of dog­gies don’t set you to rights, her com­plete lec­ture is below.

Relat­ed Con­tent:

The Pow­er of “Out­ro­spec­tion” — A Way of Life, A Force for Social Change — Explained with Ani­ma­tion

Manuel Lima Visu­al­izes Knowl­edge in Our Inter­con­nect­ed World in a Brand New RSA Ani­mat­ed Video

The Pow­er of Empa­thy: A Quick Ani­mat­ed Les­son That Can Make You a Bet­ter Per­son

Ayun Hal­l­i­day is an author, illus­tra­tor, and Chief Pri­ma­tol­o­gist of the long run­ning zine, The East Vil­lage Inky. Fol­low her @AyunHalliday