In discussing issues that divide nation, students grow together

By Irshad Tabani

Monday, Jan. 2, 2017 | 2 a.m.

About 1,000 students from high schools throughout Southern Nevada participated in the 60th annual Sun Youth Forum on Nov. 29. The students were divided into groups to discuss a variety of topics. A representative was chosen from each group to write a column about the students’ findings. This essay addresses the issues covered by the group Around the World.

“Wow” is the only word I can use to describe what an honor it was to be in an event full of intellectual people talking about some of the most pressing issues in society today.

There were several topics to choose from in my forum, and fellow room members were passionate about two in particular:

• Which nation poses the greatest threat to the security of the United States, and why? How should the U.S. respond to that threat?

• As a global community, should we adjust national borders to create new nations for refugees?

Students energetically shot their hands up to express exactly how they felt about an influx of refugees and just who or what is America’s greatest threat. Everyone nodded in approval that the United States was its own enemy because the election produced the most divisive result in our nation’s history. Both sides of the political spectrum have declared a pseudo-war on each other, putting politics ahead of the nation’s interests. One student stated, “Climate change is an imminent threat, and we are politicizing the battle.” Another claimed, “We are the problem. We have divided ourselves.” The discussion about divisiveness continued at length, going back and forth between policies that are destroying the nation, ranging from Congress refusing to fund Zika relief in Florida to protests over the North Dakota Access Pipeline, a project the Obama administration has recently suspended.

Our room moved to a discussion about refugees, led off by a student who claimed it would be a bureaucratic nightmare to undo border lines, and another room member countering that it would be easy considering border lines are “political constructs,” not social ones. I refuted this notion by addressing the conflict between India and Pakistan and how they are divided by a “social line.” Another student diverted the conversation toward the idea of nationalizing refugees: “Are we taking refugees to nationalize them, or to help them?” The gears in our room started to turn. The conversation changed from borders to culture, with one participant saying that “exposure to (different) cultures creates diversity.” “People should be who they want to be,” another replied. Our conversation generalized to talk about how mixing cultures is the best way for a country to grow, and a prime example, as one room member said, is the refugee crisis in Syria.

“(It) happened because a Shia leader took power with a Sunni majority, with no representation of the Sunnis,” the student said.

My experiences at the Sun Youth forum will linger in my mind, for my perspective on the world has changed. I came to the forum ready to debate, but in reality, it was a civil discussion about the issues, and we all sought to understand one another. True leadership is when people come to understand, not fight; when people seek to grow as intellectuals, not cower in the face of opposing viewpoints. Our country may be divided, but I have learned something: No matter the political background of the person, no matter the ethnic divide between two people, we can bounce back and grow stronger, for we are the United States of America, and truly, that sentiment was reflected in this group of leaders.

Irshad Tabani is a senior at Arbor View High School.