Jeffrey Gettleman and why it's important to go to the Saint Michael's College speakers

This isn't going to be a long blog post, but I feel like it's important anyway.
Yesterday, a man came to Saint Mike's to speak to students and community members about his life and what he stands for. Jeffrey Gettleman, journalist and Pulitzer Prize-winner, didn't waste any time getting to the interesting part of his speech. He jumped right in with a story about how he and a few other journalists and photographers had been captured and held at gunpoint by insurgents in the Middle East. He also told us about his experiences writing about foreign conflicts- often while he was in the center of the action- and we had the pleasure of hearing a moving story about how he helped organize a rescue of a Pakistani boy being held captive in Iran. I won't even try to begin to tell his story, because I can't do it justice, but here is a link to Gettleman's twitter. His articles can be found at the New York Times website.
Gettleman's speech was moving and made me want to take a part in changing what is happening in impoverished areas of the world. A couple weeks ago, we had Leah Bolger come speak at Saint Mike's to speak about the drones America are using in Pakistan. Her speech also left me charged and wondering how I could help out. We've had other speakers and topics as well, but those two left me feeling the most charged and ready to kick some unjust-government butt!
It's important to go to these speeches and talks, even when they don't look incredibly interesting. I wouldn't have gone to the Jeffrey Gettleman speech if it wasn't assigned for a class, but I am so happy I did. He is one of the best public speakers I have ever heard. He knows how to tell a good story and keep the audience hooked. I know others who didn't go to listen to him speak, and almost every one of them said they wished they had!
Saint Mike's offers so many opportunities to help out in the community and the world, and it's awesome to be able to go sit in on a lecture by someone who is as widely acclaimed as Colman McCarthy or Jeffrey Gettleman and listen to how they have impacted even some small part of it, like the life of the one Pakistani boy Gettleman helped to save. It gives me hope that I, too, can make a difference, even if it takes years.

Side note: Leah Bolger showed us this video of her protesting the Congressional Super Committee. I think it's worth sharing, in part because she is so sensible about her arrest and in part because I think Leah Bolger is a boss.