Jody Williams (born 1950) is an American political activist known around the world for her work in banning anti-personnel landmines.
She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 for her work toward the banning and clearing of anti-personnel mines.At that time, she became the 10th woman – and third American woman – in its almost 100-year history to receive the Prize.
Born: October 9, 1950 (age 64), Brattleboro, Vermont, United States
Organizations founded: International Campaign to Ban Landmines
For me, the difference between an ‘ordinary’ and an ‘extraordinary’ person is not the title that person might have, but what they do to make the world a better place for us all.
I think there’s a mythology that if you want to change the world, you have to be sainted, like Mother Teresa or Nelson Mandela or Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Ordinary people with lives that go up and down and around in circles can still contribute to change.
I decided one night after working with this one foster baby who kept pulling his feed tube out of his nose, I decided to use my two degrees in fashion design and make an outfit that would stop him from pulling these tubes out. That’s how it began. There are so many other parents out there that could benefit from something like this.
Worrying about a problem is not a strategy for change.
In poverty, people are possessions. In the middle class, possessions means things.
Emotion without action is irrelevant.
We really are at the crossroads and [disarmament] will happen if people of goodwill all over the world raise their voices and take action to let the governments of the world know that’s what they want.
What separates an ordinary woman from an extraordinary one? The belief that she is ordinary.
I believe that worrying about the problems plaguing our planet without taking steps to confront them is absolutely irrelevant. The only thing that changes this world is taking action.
It’s sort of easy to make a challenge. It’s very hard to put the full fate of your government behind the challenge and make it happen. That’s real leadership.
Landmines are different from other conventional weapons. When a war is over, the landmines stay in the ground and continue to kill – for decades.
Guns go home with the soldiers, but landmines are designed to kill – mindlessly, out of control, for years.
What I consider to be peace [is] a sustainable peace in which the majority of people on this planet have access to enough resources to live dignified lives.
The landmine cannot tell the difference between a soldier or a civilian – a woman, a child, a grandmother going out to collect firewood to make the family meal… once peace is declared the landmine does not recognize that peace. The landmine is eternally prepared to take victims.
Our challenge as educators is to make sure children are fed, feel safe, and basic needs are met. Our job is to make it so they’re not thinking of survival and can use their energy and attention to learn.
