What makes us happy? No I feel like that is a term for a
first grader. What gives us joy these days? Sometimes I seriously wonder what
drives our generation. Success? Climbing
the business ladder? Where did we go so wrong? I wish I could go to class and
hear about how others from this generation want to change lives. In all
honesty, I want people to care. Truly re-create us to be compassionate again. I
feel like so many of our parents went to college in dreams to change this world
but slowly stepped away from dreams to pursue self-success. Now, college
students have dollar signs popping out of their eyes. It is sad. I am not
bashing any career that does include a comfortable salary. Lawyers, Doctors,
Engineers all change this world in their specific areas, but I am speaking the truth in love about whether or not we are pursuing loving others through our dreams.
It is crazy to be 21 and still feel like a child. The other
day in my public speaking class I shared the story about how a crazy old lady
almost shot me when I was 9 year old. It is true. I could have possibly
deserved it.. (actually no, scratch that, I was nine. Homegirl was crazy)
Anyways, the moral of the story was why do we grow cynical as we age? We lose
our child-like spirit, the sense of adventure like Huck Finn has. I never want
to lose my adventurous heart. I think I tweeted that today. I don’t mean this
in terms of trying to hold on to my youth, in a freaky peter pan soon-to-get-Botox
way. But, I want to think of the best of people and stop assuming the worst. I
want be curious and not think I know it all. I want to drive places without
knowing where I am going. I want share how I feel and not be captive to fear. I
choose pursuing childhood. I am not against aging. I love the wisdom and beauty
that comes with aging. And I am looking forward to that part of life if I get
to experience it. But today I am just enchanted with adventures. I spent my
afternoon hanging out with some friends from a local high school. On our way
back to my house we saw a donkey on the side of the road. Naturally, we had to
stop. When else do you just run into free donkeys? We played, named him Calvin.
Tried to pen his tail… didn’t really try because that scared us. We took
pictures and stopped oncoming traffic. It was a moment we wouldn’t forget. Just
for that fact that it was unnatural, it was unexpected, and it was shared with
dear friends. Why give those times up? I know the times that I feel cynical, or
tired, or stressed I would have just drove right by it. And would have just
missed that whole experience. It was life-changing. Did we have deep
conversations? No, but there are other forms of feeling loved, feeling
appreciated and feeling like there is something bigger than ourselves in this
world. It was a time we got to share just by the fact that we pursued
adventure. We were open and welcome to living live sporadically. 
 |
| My two dear friends from East Mont High School who also have not given up on adventures. |
