Necessities

This past week, two of my dearest friends, Kelly Cahalin and Cat O'Brien, came to visit me in Rome. Kelly came all the way from Nepal, and Cat from Bhutan. They were both here quite a while, and it was so refreshing to see them. I wish I would've been able to work less to see them more, but I'm glad I got to see them at all.

I could go into detail about exactly how we spent our time, but instead, I'm going to talk about what struck me about seeing these two friends after we've had such diverse experiences over the last few years.

When Kelly first walked into her room at the Rome center, she was teary because she had running water, a nice bed, and electricity. It took a few days for that to sink in for me. I've never quite lived without those basic "necessities," or things I considered necessary. It's something I've been pondering over the last few days. What exactly is completely necessary in my life?

Cat came from Bhutan, which, admittedly, before she went there, I had never heard of. Inspired by her quest there, I've since done some research, and it's a really interesting place. It was made only more interesting by her recounting tales of her life and happenings there. Her experience was similar to Kelly's in that she was living much more simply. The contrast between Bhutan and the world at home that she was used to before going are astronomically different. I used to think that I had been living in very different experiences from what I was used to at home, and the more I think about those two, I feel like I haven't challenged myself nearly as much as I thought I had. I'm so unbelievably proud of those two, and in a weird way, I'm kind of jealous.

Seeing these two radically altered my perception of comfortability and normalcy. I have absolutely no idea what it's like to go without, to truly struggle. I thought I was thrusting myself out of my comfort Zone with Korea, but shit, I still had everything I needed at my finger tips. Their visit was a huge, huge privilege check, and I needed that.

Someday, I hope to push myself to those boundaries, to really not have everything readily available. I want to go without the comforts that I'm used to. I imagine both Kelly's and Cat's sense of self and empathy are far beyond what I could imagine. They can put themselves into another's shoes in a way that I can't; I have absolutely no idea what it's like to truly need for anything. I know what it's like to want for things, but that's generally pretty superficial. I wish I had money to travel all over the world, and I would really like a humidor for cigars. In the context of what I just said above, how incredibly stupid does that sound? I've got your answer: mindbogglingly.

Kelly works at an orphanage. In addition to her own everyday lack of comforts, she has a lot of children to worry about as well. Kelly knows I love her more than anything on the planets, but the one thing I definitely love most, is that I know that Kelly would give every single one of those kids running water or electricity before she gave it to herself. Selfless in every sense of the word. The same goes for Cat. She would've given anything to her students. I think true service of others is putting your boots on the ground and getting into the lives of those you wish to serve. Both of these friends have done that, and in my own way, I've engrained myself in the lives of my students to serve them. It's not in the same way, but drawing that comparison made me feel a bit less down about myself after comparing my last few years to those of my incredible friends. I do feel like I'm making a difference for someone, even if it isn't the most underserved population out there. My students are probably the opposite of underserved generally, and the sense of entitlement is often infuriating, but these students could cure cancer, or solve world hunger, or become president. I hope in my own way, that I'm contributing to the betterment of every student I meet.

I don't know that I'll ever have an experience similar to what Kelly or Cat has had. They are the type of people I aspire to be. They're the type of people I hope to meet every day and surround myself with. I'm lucky as hell to have them in my life. It's always refreshing to have reminders of the people in my life who are awesome. I've been noticing recently the selflessness of my coworkers, and their desire to help others (even if sometimes they're at their wits end). I've seen some radiant examples recently of their care for those around them. Every single day there's a reminder of the awesomeness around me, and I ought to start paying more attention to it.

I've gone on long enough I think. Cheers today and always to all of you who make each day worth waking up for. Ciao!