The year is 2024, and it's been 11 years since I graduated from MIT. Although I believe that we as a human society have made progress for the better in tech, one clear thing is that the world, as I know it, feels more divided than before.
More than ever, it's essential for programs like MISTI to exist so that students can venture on their own to explore different cultures and customs and form their own opinions rather than taking what is told to them as the only truth.
We are all interesting, unique, and special individuals, but the world puts us into buckets for simplicity, and we are also often told to pick a bucket. It's an imperfect system, yet the one that seems to have been most sustainable.
MISTI may just be a fun and cool experience for many of these students. Still, the people they meet, the food they taste, the history they learn, and the culture they experience are invaluable education and learning that will put real faces and people in front of these "buckets," build empathy and help them realize how we have so much more in common than differences. That's the most critical learning one can do at a formative time, like in college, to feel more connected to other humans and grow internally about what being a human means beyond the labels.
When I did MISTI Israel in 2010, I had a formative experience. I met a diverse group of people and made friends who put many more faces to the identities of Israelis, Beoudines, Palestinians, and Jordanians.
With that said, please join me in donating to MISTI as part of the #MIT24 challenge to keep MISTI going strong.
Thank you <3
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