The beauty of interconnectivity; the beauty of indivisibility--A Letter from our Co-Presidents

Dear GlobeMed Staff 2013-14,

This letter is more than a little delayed, and we apologize. This has been for a few reasons, but mostly, we didn’t know where to begin. Some things are not worth elaborating on because they’re obvious: we are thrilled to have you, we are inspired by you, and we are close to unshakably confident that your involvement in this organization will change you if you let it. We say this as fact and not melodrama. 

As our first major event approaches, though, it’s becoming apparent that there’s more going on than sentimentality. Most of what we discuss at staff meetings is ghU, meant to broaden and deepen our understanding of global health as a whole. Committee meetings, on the other hand, are minute logistics - planning community building activities, sending follow-up emails, comparing instagram strategies. What’s important, though, is that this difference is less disconnect and more zoom-in. The GlobeMed machine is massive, with many moving parts, and for this reason, it’s easy to lose sight of the hows and whys that it fits together. 

We recognize that, and we ask that until you can see it for yourself - whatever it is for you, be it the GROW internship, a network-wide event, the completion of some huge project - you trust us on this one. Although the everyday poster designs and Asana tasks and ghU conversations may feel disjointed and even insignificant, they’re not when everyone is doing them. Within the chapter, each member who designs a beautiful video ad, relentlessly searches for the perfect ghU facts, or tables for an hour is supporting our partner. And as we continue to zoom out, to appreciate this collective action on a more macroscopic level, we see that these same actions are being repeated all across the GlobeMed network, expanding from Rochester to our peers and partners, until you can finally see that what was once GlobeMed at UR, GlobeMed at UT-Austin, GlobeMed at UCLA is now a highly connected movement, driving to a more just, a more healthy world. Systematically, a little at a time.

So in the end, it is not that your phone calls to sponsors, your elevator GlobeMed pitch, your standing in the rain to sell donuts to drunk people doesn’t matter, but that it is impossible to see where your contribution actually ends and where someone else’s begins. The beauty of the network is its interconnectivity, the beauty of the chapter is its indivisibility. When we stand with our network - its chapters, its partners, its alumni - distance is not an issue. When our motivation is the same as theirs, we can begin to appreciate our true combined effects. When we all understand our end goal, we begin to see where we fit into that GlobeMed machine, and it is then that we can begin to make the organization our own.

We can’t wait for this year.

Love,
Cam and Ria