very little time remaining

as departure day approaches...

the anxiety, excitement, nervousness, anticipation, ambivalence, frustration, etc. has left
i feel peaceful and completely confident in this decision
i pretty much can't see myself doing anything else with my life right now
it feels like my entire life has been scripted for this moment and this experience and i would be a fool to refuse it

at the same time, i am a little sad and reluctant because while this is what i am meant to be doing, i am sad to leave my family
i wish i could take them with me
their love sustains me and it will be hard to be far away from them

i expect to learn how to be quiet, how to hold my words, and how to be a better listener
i am convinced that what we need in this world is for people who have had the benefit of privilege and education to take some time to be quiet and to listen and to observe and in the end, we will know how to reconcile what we've heard with what we know in order to help alleviate the world of its pain

thanks again to everybody who has been so supportive and loving and encouraging and generous in these past few weeks
you have no idea how good it feels to advance into the world with a cheering section such as this one



i hope i have time on monday to make it to MLK's birth home
what better way to start this adventure?
i've been listening to these words over and over again almost as if it is my doctrine:

If you want to be important—-wonderful. If you want to be recognized—-wonderful. If you want to be great—-wonderful. But recognize that he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. That’s a new definition of greatness.

And this morning, the thing that I like about it: by giving that definition of greatness, it means that everybody can be great, because everybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don’t have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don’t have to know Einstein’s theory of relativity to serve. You don’t have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love. And you can be that servant.

(audio/visual here)