I own Bangkok.

Keep repeating that, replacing Bangkok with the community you live in.

I own [ _____ ].

I’ve renewed my perspective on ownership after hanging out at and visiting so many orphanages. Do you know what little you can claim as your own when you have thirty brothers and sisters? You better believe that when your bed is one of the twenty in a room, “mine” and “not yours” become the words kids hurl right before they throw fists. That’s because exerting ownership over something, changes our outlook. If you can’t relate to what it must be like to live with so many siblings, then you’re from the same privileged background as me, where we learn to own a lot of stuff, but only exert passionate ownership over a few things.

“When your bed is one of twenty in a room, ‘mine’ and ‘not yours’ are fighting words.”

It’s time to operate in the entitlement that ownership of our community brings. This means changing the way we perceive and aim to solve problems. I will always remember driving through downtown Atlanta and among the litter and debris that had accumulated in the gutter was a chunk of cardboard that read:

Another Atlanta Mess

I laughed. But now I realize that it’s not enough to only see problems. We need to claim responsibility for problems in our communities and most importantly, we MUST see ourselves as powerful. In Bangkok, Another Atlanta Mess is the equivalent of the saying, This is Thailand. Sure, it’s our favorite way to curse the air and nod in agreement that surely every deity and monk in the nearby temple must hate us for things to have gone wrong so well. BUT the commonality in both phrases is the implied sense of impotence we concede to every time we mutter them.

Did you forget I own Bangkok?

I am not impotent. I can’t accept the This is Thailand mentality and mire in the belief that the color of my skin or the color of my passport disqualifies me as an agent of change.

No. Street begging elephants aren’t ok with me.

“I can’t accept the ‘this is Thailand’ mentality and mire in the belief that the color of my skin or the color of my passport disqualifies me.”

No. Losing count of the number of sex workers you pass walking home is not just part of the normal daily routine.

No. I won’t be satisfied until the same little boy I see so often bent in half clutching a 7-11 cup has a better option than begging in the rain.

How have we been numbed to those hurting in our communities? Are we so afraid of responsibility that a global crisis won’t move us as quickly as a facebook status update?

To be effective leaders we have to own and teach each other to take ownership of our communities.

I own [ _____ ].

Claim it and unite with others doing the same.

Where is your city? Where is your community? Wake up, take ownership and throw your hand in.

~Dwight