“This is the story of a single day. A single, shape-shifting, life-changing, perspective-altering, never be the same kinda day.” – Sean Carasso

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When we look at our world today we see so much hurt, pain, death, and it can be so overwhelming when looking at it as a whole. Some people look at it and say, “There’s too much to do, I can’t do anything too help.” And some people look at and say, “Look at the pain of the world, where can I start?” I was fortunate enough to interview Sean Carasso, a person who lives out “where can I start?” to the fullest.

Sean Carasso is the founder of the non-profit organization Falling Whistles. I was able to meet him at an event at Pepperdine University about 3 years ago and talk to him about an organization that he wanted to start, and he shared his story with me. I could tell by talking to him that he was serious about doing something, and I was excited to see were his dream would go.

I was very excited last week when I got to do a phone interview with Sean, and a little nervous because I have never done one before, but from the start he was very easy to talk to and said some very profound things.

“Our Goal is to tell everyone,” was the reason that he was so willing to do the interview. No matter who it was or how they expressed their voice he wanted everyone to know what was going on with the war in the Congo.

The first question that I asked him was “How did you come up with the idea of Falling Whistles? Like what made you think of selling a Whistle?”

Sean then went on to talk about his trip and how he saw these kids that were drastically affected by the war in Congo. They were kids that were emotional and physical scarred by the war. When Sean got back to the states, he said that he wanted to scream at the world telling them what was going on. I could even tell by his voice on the phone that his heart was torn for these kids. When he was sitting at home one day his friend, Marcus, gave him a whistle on a string and said, remember the kids by this. From that point he came up with the idea to wear a whistle around his neck so that he could keep the war torn kids close to his heart. He went from screaming at the world to telling one person at a time his story, and the world listens. And you can have a whistle too.

Next question, “How have you seen people around you affected by your story?

”The first thing that Sean talked about was how it seems that when people hear the story they embrace it as their own and run with it in their own way. He shared the story about a person that traveled from Texas to New York just telling people about FW. Or that one of there staff members quit his successful job in Houston and moved to LA to help with their cause. The whistle that is worn is not something that is going to be hidden. It is a large piece that hangs so that everyone can see it and people will ask you about it. At that point is the time where you step out and be a “whistle blower” for peace, telling one person at a time.

What are some of the goals that FW has accomplished?

When Sean talked about this he gave me two important things that they had accomplished:

1) They have helped 270 kids that have been affected by the war in the Congo by educating them and helping to rehabilitating them.

2) Before they started the effort of FW virtually no one in the West was talking about the war in the Congo, but since FW started there has been a growing awareness, and not just though FW but MSNBC, Fox News, and CNN have all had news stories about the war. Changing the world does not happen all at once, it starts one story at a time.

How has starting Fallen Whistles impacted you personally?

When I asked this question to Sean, he answered it in a way that made me respect him more then ever. He said that through starting FW, there have been many negative things that had hurt him: He said that he has lost a lot of his muscle mass because sometimes there is no money to buy food, and there are a lot of health issues that have impacted his life. He sacrifices his comfort for a cause he believes in.

But there were the positive things that he listed though his suffering: He is focused and working hard, he feels that he has a purpose in life, he has courage, has become more bold, he is willing to take a stand, and is no longer living in compliancy.

He also mentioned that there have been more times that he has failed in this journey then times when he has succeeded, but he keeps moving forward. It is amazing to listen to his passion and his sacrifice to get here. We all have goals and dreams, but are we willing to fight the failures in order to reach them?

The last question, “What is one thing that you would tell young people about wanting to make a difference in the world?”

When I asked this question he went on to share a story that keeps him going. He talked about watching one of Winston Churchill’s last speeches. Sean painted me the picture of him walking to the stage with his cane, in his bowler hat, and a cigar hangout out his mouth. He got to the microphone and said, “Never give up,” then paused and then said again louder, “Never give up, never give up”, and then he walked off the stage. From that he has been inspired to “never give up,” in his pursuit of his dream. He talked about making a simple choice and then to doing what you can.

As he said, there had been more times that he has failed then succeeded. But I guess it’s what you do with the failures that defines us.

So what did I take from this?

Once I got past the nervousness of doing a phone interview and it turned into a conversation, I came to realize that Sean is a man with a dream. He does not dream of being famous, he does not want to make millions of dollars; he just wants people to understand that there is suffering going on in the world, and to encourage people not to keep their voices hidden. He said to me, I want to use my freedom of speech to speak for them. Use my voice for them.

Another thing that I took away from talking to him was to “act as you think.” When I talk to him about persuing my business degree, and then going out into the world to help others, he explained something to me. He said that going to college was great, but he saw that a lot of times college teaches "complacence" in the class room. He said that he was looking for people that don’t just merely think about a solution to a problem but people that will act upon it.

I want to be a person that acts on what they think no matter what it is, and that never gives up.

What do you want to be know for?

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