Caroline Rao

Dr. Stevick
EDUC360
20 May 2018

Reflection

For me, this study abroad trip has been one of immense learning and at the same time
very challenging. I have had to step out of my comfort zone in multiple ways, but the end result
of me doing this has always been so rewarding. From classroom activities to just admitting to ask
for help when I am confused navigating the city, I never have regretting stepping out of my
comfort zone. Even though I am not always the first person to take a risk or try something new, I
have definitely done it way more on this trip than at any point in my life and that is extremely
valuable in and of itself. Particularly, a few of the activities we’ve done have really challenged
me.
The very first day in class doing the “What is Justice?” exercise made me think about a
lot. I realized that listing times of injustice was way easier than listing times when I thought
justice had been achieved. And even when I had written down times when I thought justice was
achieved, after thinking about it for a while I realized that really and truly justice had not been
achieved, at least fully. Examples like war tribunals and laws or acts that have been created
cannot make up for the suffering and time these victims spent in their lives. I’ve learned that no
matter what we do, justice will look different for everyone and not everyone will feel like justice
was achieved for them. Although this was very difficult for me to grapple with and made me feel
a little hopeless for the world, I realized that we have to pick our battles. We cannot fight for
every single individual to get their individual view of justice, it is simply not possible. Instead,
we need to fight for the greater good and try to achieve justice for as many people as possible.
Additionally, working with the Rotterdam students really challenged me and made me
see things from a different perspective. Each activity we did at the ABC Treehouse when we
would discuss with the Rotterdam students, I learned something new. When I would mention the
way we do things in America, they would be able to tell me how they do the same things either
from their home country or here in the Netherlands. I thought it was especially interesting to be
able to compare our lives and how our worlds work and apply those to the debates and war
tribunal exercises. The majority of discussions I had in my groups focused on how to achieve
justice worldwide not just within our own countries. We realized how different things are
everywhere but at the same time found similarities that provided us with hope. These similarities
were things like hope and hard-working people who want to change the world and work for the
greater good, but these are the people we need in every place around the world. The Rotterdam
students had a lot of insight into many of the issues we discussed and each of them had an
opinion about how to do it. I was challenged to form opinions about what I would do and what I
thought about certain situations across the world. I really enjoyed hearing from them and
although at first I was skeptical about learning with Dutch students, in the end I wish we had
more time with them.
In terms of justice for Anne Frank, I honestly think the world has done a pretty decent job
of it. From things like the Anne Frank House and the museum and the publication of her diary,
her words and thoughts can be heard across the world for decades to come. Her story is a
powerful one and especially in the way she portrayed it in her diary as well as the way Otto
Frank envisioned for her legacy to carry on. Justice for Anne Frank could involve so many things
but the honoring of her life and her dedication to writing about her life story help achieve it. The
way the Anne Frank House museum was designed and the story it told throughout paid a great
tribute and in a way brings justice to Anne everyday someone walks through it. Beyond these
immediate examples of tributes to her life, I think Anne envisioned a world that was constantly
trying to be improved. She fully believed that the world could be great and become a much better
place and today, while we have come a long way from Nazi Germany, we still have a long way
to go. I think Anne would think justice would include people striving to be better versions of
themselves and spreading peace and love throughout. She would have wanted everyone to be
constantly trying to improve the world. I think Anne would be disappointed if she saw the world
today and almost 75 years later would have hoped for better. Overall, justice for Anne Frank
seems best achievable in the sense of spreading awareness and making people know her story
and the atrocities she and her family and many more Jews suffered. She would want people to
understand the deeper meaning behind hate and how it manifests in fear. I think Anne believed
that everyone is inherently good, but somewhere along the line they may fall astray and those are
the people we should hope to impact in our lives.
Coming into this program, I thought my role in achieving justice was minimal, if not
almost nonexistent. I am only one 20 year old American girl, what can I do? But throughout this
past week, I have learned that there is so much I can do in the fight for justice. I think going
forward I am hopeful that my main role can be to spread awareness and spread information about
what is going on in the world. In America, I think a lot of us are sheltered and live in our own
American bubble and forget about the atrocities and infringements of human rights every day
across the world. We can hope that the UDHR makes an impact, but we know that is not reality.
People will continue to infringe on others’ human rights every day, but I can make a small
impact by standing up and saying something even when it is uncomfortable. My role in justice
involves speaking out about issues and advocating for those who need it. Those who suffer
injustices need to be heard and especially in American it’s easy to pretend like something isn’t
happening if we can’t see it or hear about it. I am going to work on validating the sources I am
getting my information from and reading from multiple sites. At the end of the day, I want the
people I surround myself with to be aware of what is going on in the world. I want to impact
them and use the information I’ve learned on this trip to help them get out of the American
bubble and pay attention to the rest of the world.
Finally, the Humanity House refugee exhibition was one of the best things I’ve done on
this trip. I was not really aware of the refugee process or what they go through and that
exhibition really put me in their shoes. Even though I knew it was fake, I was easily able to feel
what they must’ve felt and learn about the process. The biggest thing I noticed was the struggle
with the unknown. Not knowing what would come next or not knowing what to do next were a
few of the things I felt while going through the exhibition. I think in a way this can relate to our
fight for justice as well on a greater scale. In the fight for justice, we aren’t going to be able to
know if things will get worse or what someone thinks of a situation. All we can do is advocate
for victims and spread awareness and truth to people across the world about why every single
person deserves to be fought for and to feel justice.