By GABRIELLE HILLICK
Staff Writer
On Sept. 24, at the 73rd annual United Nations General Assembly, the popular K-pop band, known as BTS, spoke before the UN.
The three minute long speech was delivered by Kim Nam-joon, or RM, the leader of BTS. He was in accordance with their partnership with UNICEF and their new program ‘Generation Unlimited.’
The program launched this past week and UNICEF’s executive director, Henrietta H. Fore stated, “We’re calling for cutting-edge solutions and new ideas to get every young person in school, training or age-appropriate employment by 2030.”
After the launch on that day, Kim Nam-joon spoke on self-love and empowerment before the assembly. He starts off thanking his fans for the ‘Love Myself’ movement last November before going into his childhood.
Talking on how as a young kid, he would look at the night sky and daydream before going on to say, “in an intro to one of our early albums, there’s a line that says, ‘My heart stopped beating when I was maybe nine or ten.’
Looking back, I think that’s when I began to worry about what other people thought of me and started seeing myself through their eyes. I stopped looking at the night skies, the stars. I stopped daydreaming. Instead, I just tried to jam myself into the molds that other people made.”
RM’s speech was well delivered and left important messages on who one is as a person.
This isn’t the first time that BTS has teamed up with UNICEF either. Just last year in November they paired the Love Myself movement with UNICEF’s #EndViolence, raising over 1.5 billion dollars for UNICEF through their fans.
BTS’ mission every time they team up with UNICEF seems to be about empowering young children and making the world safer. This movement along with the messages that BTS has given through their music has helped hundreds of fans through the struggles their lives have given them, as well as helped the band members themselves.
In the speech, RM goes to say, “if there’s anything I achieved, it was only possible that I have my other BTS members right by my side and because of the love and support that our ARMY fans all over the world make for us. And maybe I made a mistake yesterday, but yesterday’s me is still me.”
“Today, I am who I am with all of my faults and my mistakes. Tomorrow, I might be a tiny bit wiser, and that’ll be me, too. These faults and mistakes are what I am, making up the brightest stars in the constellation of my life. I have come to love myself for who I am, for who I was, and for who I hope to become.”
He spoke on how with the help of those close to him and the fans that support him and the entire band of BTS, he’s able to keep moving forward despite the mistakes he may make. And this is the goal of Generation Unlimited.
With BTS and UNICEF’s partnership, I believe Generation Unlimited will help thousands of children across the globe and give them the support and opportunities they deserve to better themselves and move forward in the world like BTS had been given through their own support and the ARMY fans they have by their side.
The goal is for them to reach two billion young people across the globe by 2030 and give them an opportunity that would otherwise not available to them without Generation Unlimited.
The next generation will be able to achieve their hopes and dreams and grow in a world where they will be supported and empowered thanks to the program BTS and UNICEF have created.
