The life boat || Ashi’s journey #2
This time it was going to be different.
My plane has just landed and I have finally arrived in Paris. I was rushing towards the transportation to reach my destination, but then I took a step back for a second, and I told myself : “What next ? What do I have to do now to make the change ? To fight a system that allows the rich to become richer, and take advantage of all the innovations, and makes the poor even poorer and isolated ?” I recalled a quote by Barack Obama : “Change will not come if we wait for some other person, or if we wait for some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”
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So, I kept my high momentum and I decided to track down the French revolution. So I visited place de la Bastille, I started visualising the attack and people fighting for what was right, which resulted in signing the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. It was an impressive event in French history. It was the first time that I viewed Paris in this way. I had lived in Paris before for more than 7 months, working for a big corporate company, and I partied close to place de la Bastille multiple times before without paying attention to this amazing achievement. This time it was going to be different, this time I have a purpose and I need to lead the change for my generation.
This time it was going to be different, this time I have a purpose and I need to lead the change for my generation.
A few days later I witnessed the rebellion of the “gilets jaunes” in France. The government has introduced new taxes which led people to go in the streets to fight for their lives, their ability to have a good life. I saw burning cars, closed highways and the destruction of public and private properties. I have seen these images before, I remember the Arab Spring against dictatorships, but I was surprised to see such scenes here, since France is a republic, and the citizens have chosen their president and his agenda. A few days later, the government removed the taxes, but the people are still marching in the streets.
I believe that major changes require civilian acts, but I also think you can make change without destroying public property. I saw the consequences of the uprisings of the Arab spring — the army in the streets, injured people … I want to impulse change the way Mark Zuckerberg impulsed change in the way we communicate with each other ; in the way Steve Jobs transformed the way we listen and collect music : I want to impulse change in a much deeper and sustainable way.
I live in the suburbs of Paris. Taking my long train ride back home from Bastille, I had an idea that I had never had before, in all of my long train rides back home. I had always looked for the destination, my objective — fighting the system. But I had never paid attention to the path to get there. So, I started to pay attention, to the train stations and to the passengers, until one day I was introduced to a member of Singa, who told me about the entrepreneurship program.
Signé : Ashi
Illustration : Alix Mains
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