Deeper than Shared Conviction

If you were to stumble into the Created Equal training center this summer, you would find an interesting sight: an Ivy League graduate seated next to a high school senior, a vegan student enjoying a salad next to another savoring a hamburger, and hands shooting into the air or sudden applause as all passionately defend their position on a range of philosophical matters.

This eclectic scene is Created Equal’s internship.

At the beginning of the summer, our latest band of interns arrived with the usual awkwardness felt at the beginning of a school term. But what has united them over the past couple of months is far greater than the happenstance of selecting the same college course. Indeed it is deeper than shared conviction.

Over the past two months, they’ve celebrated victories both intimate and public—from hearing a mother outside Planned Parenthood say she has changed her mind to watching the Ohio Senate pass the Dismemberment Abortion Ban.

They’ve grappled in our classroom with arguments from abortion advocates—learning to fairly summarize and sufficiently refute—to improve the real conversations they’ve had on the street. They’ve vented, philosophized, and dreamed together while discussing the cultural status quo and what could be instead.

And they’ve stood shoulder to shoulder on days when triumph seems not merely elusive but impossible because of apathy, hostility, or exhaustion.

It is this shared experience of action compelled by conviction which has united them. They are not only empowered individually but also understand the goal and how to move toward it collectively.

As they graduate, it is not yet clear what directions they will pursue in the future. But I am confident that they leave not only better equipped but also with a renewed sense of purpose and ownership in the cultural battles we are facing.

They are game-changers. We can't wait to see where they go.