OUT ON THE HILL is the official blog of the Victory Congressional Interns. Views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of LGBTQ Victory Institute. Learn more about the internship at victoryinstitute.org/vci.
As I sit here, staring blankly at my computer screen, I ponder how it is that I can write a blog post that will do this experience justice. A plethora of memories flood my head – both the good and the bad. My heart feels heavy. Two months came and swiftly went like the rain showers in this swamp of a city.
This experience has made me question how I can change the socioeconomic political systems and institutions in which I exist. Unfortunately, I don’t have a direct answer to said question; I only have another question – like whether or not I can actually change those aforementioned things. Ultimately I have come to the stark realization that even if I can’t create the much needed change, the intelligent and capable individuals around me can. The people in this cohort are the movers, the shakers, the disrupters, the fighters, the takers of space… they are the individuals with the ability to enact change.
Although my time here has simultaneously inspired and disheartened me it has reaffirmed that young people are bound to change the systems in which we live. They are bound to empower their own communities so that true, widespread social and political change will occur. I genuinely look forward to watching where the people in this cohort go in the future, constantly cheering them on from afar.
For this singular experience to have occurred in the course of my life, I will forever be grateful. But, it is time to move forward. And so, like the rising and the setting of the sun, our lives will cyclically continue on as we head back home to begin the next phase of our existence.
