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Opening Address-1
by Jason Hou, President of NTU Host Team
Date: March 14th, 2010
Length：1338words, 10 minutes
Good afternoon,
Our honorable President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), Taipei City Mayor Hau Lung-pin (郝龍斌), NTU President Dr. Lee Si-chen (李嗣涔), Dean of NTU Student Affairs Dr. Feng Yen (馮燕), our dear Secretary General Ami Nash, our Faculty Advisor Yang Yung-ming (楊永明), our distinguished sponsors and supporters, Secretariats, WorldMUN Staff and Volunteers , Chairs and Assistant Chairs, faculty advisors, alumni, sponsors and supporters, ladies and gentlemen, and most important of all, our fellow delegates:
I am honored to be with you at the Opening of the finest Model UN conference in the world. On behalf of the entire NTU Host Team, I send our sincere welcome and hospitality to you. Welcome to Taipei, Taiwan.
We have been expecting you for nearly a year and now we meet at last. Looking forward to this day because hosting each and every one of you is the final piece to complete this fascinating mission. This is no doubt the most important piece of work, for each and every one of you adds diversity and enriches the content of WorldMUN; each and every one of you brings something special to WorldMUN. I always remember the times when I participated in MUN as a delegate. The interaction and exciting chemistry with all fellow delegates around me have a special place in my heart – they compose the greatest part of my lifelong memory, because I have gained so much more than I have contributed. I gained precious knowledge of countries and cultures that cannot be obtained from books and news; I was shared by invaluable experiences which I never thought I would have the chance to engage myself in. I cannot describe exactly what you, my fellow delegates, bring to enrich the content of WorldMUN, but I always know this: Were without any of you, this could have been less phenomenal.
I believe there is a story to be told for every one of us and it would be just amazing if I could get to know everyone of you. Although I cannot pinpoint what you add to WorldMUN individually, I do know how to describe the overall inspiration I experienced through WorldMUNs. Today, I would like to share three things I took away from my past WorldMUN experiences. Just three things.
The unique experience I have gone through.
The privilege I realized that I have.
The identity and mission I decided to take on.
But before I proceed, I must not forget to thank the backbones of WorldMUN: staff, assistant chairs, and volunteers of the Host Team. There are nearly 400 of us in total and we have labored for more than a year. Their tremendous efforts are unparalleled and beyond measure, because I have never participated in a team composed of such highly motivated individuals. It was definitely beyond my expectations. I am proud and honored to be with them, and I believe this will remain one of the best teamwork experiences I have! When you encounter any Host Team members in the following week, please don’t forget to send your warmest regards to them. I believe every one of them can share their own stories and distinctive perspectives with you.
Back to the three things. The first thing is about the unique opportunity I have experienced.
I was really shocked when I first came to WorldMUN. It was WorldMUN 2007 in Geneva. At the time, I was still a freshman, and I was shocked by the scene I saw. And I am witnessing the same scene again, right here, right now. At that time, I have never seen so many talented people from so many countries in my life. Just ask ourselves: How many times in our lives do we get the chance to gather thousands of brilliant minds from over 50 countries, establish friendships, and develop solutions together under a united goal? Excitement soon triumphed over the feeling of surprise. I know this is the unique opportunity. Interacting across cultures peacefully and having mutual respect is our ultimate dream, and we are now a part of the unique opportunity to realize this dream in the following days. There are too many conflicts and tragedies rooted in cross-cultural misunderstandings and mutual despise. WorldMUN is THE opportunity not just by the figures on the table, like how many of us or how many countries are here, but also by the people sitting around the table and the unique connections formed among us.
The second thing I would like to share is the privilege I realized that I have.
Before my first WorldMUN, I had assumed that the privileged ones were referring to the millionaires, the well-connected politicians, those people with money that they can never use up, and those who are among the 20% of our population but controls 80% of the resources and wealth in our society. I had not known the world better, thus I came to such a false assumption. I had had no picture in my mind when I heard figures of children morality and world poverty. But now, I know I was wrong. Because of WorldMUN, I was pulled out of my comfort zone and I finally took a deeper and closer look at the world we live in. We definitely are the privileged ones. And this is a world filled with inequalities. The poorest 20% of all people only earn 2% of our total income, but the richest 20% earn 74%. We may not be among the richest people in our country, but we are definitely all among the richest 20% in the world. Moreover, we have the privilege to fly here, the privilege to be with the most brilliant minds around the world, and the privilege to participate in the problem-solving process. We have the privilege to engage in the world community, the privilege to have spare times to think and discuss, and the privilege to pursue higher goals and noble causes. And most important of all, we have the privilege to be inspired by WorldMUN. With great privilege comes great responsibility. We cannot and should not take all these for granted.
The final thing I would like to share is the identity and mission we should take on. The privileged should put tremendous efforts to improve the lives of the less privileged. Inspiration means nothing if we cannot put it into actions. We see change everywhere thus we have a greater possibility than our parents to help improve the world. We are in the middle of a world beginning to praise multilateralism. We are in the middle of the internet era where individuals have the possibility to help ripples build a current and thus leverage giant corporations and bureaucratic machines. The barrier to change is not too little possibility, but too little will and too little awareness.
Because we are and will always be inspired by the WorldMUN spirit, we must put these inspirations into actions. There are plenty of ways to act. Though this mission is open-ended, our responsibility and goal is clear. It is a united goal to strive for a better world, a united spirit to affect people around us, a united will to change, and a united identity and mission to serve as citizens of the world.
I understand that I don’t have answers to many problems in the world now. But I also believe that we have more possible solutions than we expected, more than the problems we are facing now. Approaches to a single issue are always far more than one. I also believe that there are more people who care about the world than I imagine. For I have seen them in several WorldMUNs. They are seated in this grand hall. We see activists in us and we will judge ourselves on how we perform our roles－serving as citizens of the world.
Delegates, grab this unique opportunity, realize the privileges we have, and take on the identity and the mission to serve as citizens of the world.
Thank you all very much.
