Action

Hello.

My name is Anthony Wojtkowiak. I am 6 feet tall, white, with blond hair and blue eyes. I am from New Jersey, from a town that exists in the shadow of Philadelphia. I am a 21 year old film student at the University of Miami.

Until this year, I had once been out of the country. I had gone to Germany in 1994, shortly after the country reunited. I was there for my brother, who at the time was a world-class remote control car racer. The races were on the formerly Communist side of Germany in Sonneberg: Everything was gray. Everything was the same. Even flowers didn’t seem to grow. We were staying on what had been the free side, in Coburg. While my brother was racing, tending to his equipment and his sponsors, my mother and I were traveling on prepared trips for the families of the racers. I got to see some of this nation, which for a seven-yea-old was quite a unique experience.

One thing I learned was that American policy, whether we like it or not, affects the rest of the world. Not all foreign opinions of those policies are the same. And despite popular belief, not everyone hates us. All too often we are only able to see the world through our American eyes, which offer us only one view of what goes on, and at that a privileged one.

What we do as Americans really and truly matters on the world sphere. Kids in China wear Nike shoes and eat at McDonalds. Rage Against The Machine and My Chemical Romance sell out shows in Japan, Germany, Chile, and Argentina. In Europe, American cars are exotic. Most importantly, people elsewhere really care about our policy.

Nowhere is this truer than in the Caribbean and in Latin America. They are our closest neighbors. After Mexico and Canada, they likely know us the best. But many of these countries are developing, they do not have the advantages we have, and the US has a great impact on them. Unfortunately, no one can expect the United States or anyone to solve everybody else’s problems. The most that can be asked for is that we try to change the world.

And so I have set out to make a film about equitable access to technology for all, rich or poor, young or old, black or white. It didn’t start out that way, and in time I’ll tell you about it. That is, if anyone is reading this. It is my little way of changing the world, I guess. I hope my experience opens eyes and inspires other to make changes in their communities. Because the world could be a better place if everyone cared to try to make it so.

The world changes everyday. The question is who makes that change, and how.