Educating the global citizenQuote: “Washing your hands in a conflict between the powerful and the powerless means siding with the powerful, not being neutral. » Paulo Friere who was a Brazilian educator and a human rights activist wrote this quote. He was born in 1922 and died in 1997. The quote means that if you do nothing to change the issue of the powerless, it is the powerful who will succeed. The greatest need is for no one to stand in the way. If you give them that, you really help them. If you side with the powerless, you are trying to help them and you are not neutral, which means doing nothing at all. One example is when Europeans used African Americans as slaves. Europeans were the powerful and African Americans were the powerless. Before the Underground Railroad, people were neutral about the situation. When they started this slave liberation network, they sided with the powerless so that they could be free in Canada. This quote attempts to get us to make a difference in the world, instead of doing nothing at all. By helping someone in need, you make a big difference in our global village. To make a difference, it takes not only the government but also us, the citizens. People all over the world are connected in one way or another. One problem can affect the whole world. One way to apply this quote to the present is how the world allowed Iraq and Afghanistan to be attacked. Many innocent people, including children, were injured because no one protested. The world has helped the powerful and defeated the powerless. One problem we are helping with is the tsunami that hit parts of Indonesia, Thailand and India..