Youthful Life: X

Truth - The greater life lessons we learn oftentimes do not manifest themselves until long after an experience has concluded. Love can be so pervasive and yet so elusive. Recognizing love for what it is can be a difficult thing to ability to cultivate. In doing so though we learn better how to choose for ourselves. We choose love. We choose our family. We choose those that we let in to our lives. We give invitations, make promises, and pledges ourselves in pacts. This is my fraternity pact. "We're on a planet. At the same time. In the Universe ... Let's do something great together!” Jeff Byington   In my post-undergrad life , the significance of my "lifelong" membership in a fraternal organization has faded into little more than fond memories of weekends spent having stupidly hilarious conversation to the soundtrack of early 2000s hits, bureaucratic unproductive chapter meetings, and semblances of interfraternal communal collaborations. I rarely wear my le...

Truth - Giving has to cost you something; time, energy, or something material. Sacrifice is inherent to giving, It is only by giving that get something. That something is exponentially more important than the that you incurred. It is the difference you made is someone else's life and subsequently your own. This notion of community service as being selfless is untrue. Community service is about building connection and this idea of detached philanthropic efforts is part of the problem.  This is humanitarianism. "The humanitarian lays stress almost solely upon breadth of knowledge and sympathy." Irving Babbitt It's the season where our morality apparently starts to kick in because the jingling bells of donation cans, gift drives, soup kitchen serving, food pantry stocking, retirement home card making and all the rest become abundant. In our oblivious excess, we somehow see the poor, the hungry, and the homeless. I struggle living in a city when it comes to givi...

Truth - Faith is often articulated to be a belief in things beyond belief. Faith however can also be explained to be a certainty in something or someone that you know to be true. Faith surpasses doubt and pushes you further just hope and wishes. Faith is a confirmation of strength and fortitude in something bigger than you. Faith fundamentally about trust not only in yourself but in others, and the world around you. When you act in good faith it is the implication of sincerity of intention.   " Different people, in good faith, can look at the same fact and interpret it differently. But that's where an interesting conversation begins." Eric Schlosser   Trust issues are common for good reason. There have been so many times where I have found myself questioning the authenticity of who people present themselves to me as or their intent in befriending me. Mistrust is a learned behavior. It manifests itself after repeated instances of having your trust being taken for g...

Truth - The way things appears and the way things are can be drastically different and yet exactly the same. How something is viewed can make all the difference. Context is key. Without background, history, or relevant input we're left to piece things together. From one angle things may look alright but change your viewpoint and it's a completely novel story. We edit, cut, and paste together our lives and the world around us. Even what we play back and tell the world is only one version of the truth. Change your vantage point, change the world.   "When you really listen to another person from their point of view, and reflect back to them that understanding, it's like giving them emotional oxygen." Stephen Covey Do we ever fully get the whole story? I mean, do we ever get to know everything or the exact truth? The definitive answer is no. Every single time we tell a story, it's different. We hyperbolize, without details, and remember selectively. Every r...

Truth - There's a big difference between who we are in public versus who we are private. The complicated part of that dichotomy is that we're always told be ourselves no matter where we are and we're with. The problem though with being yourself is that others may not care for who you are. The simple response would be to say who cares but in actuality we do care on some level. It's why we change who we are or at least how we show up in certain spaces. Why are sometimes understated and at others over the top? Why do we pretend we're okay when we're not and continue to smile when we're sad? Are we really different people when we're out in the open or just another version of ourselves behind closed doors? "People behave differently now matter what period we're looking out. People stand up straight in public, but can slouch behind closed doors." Brenda Blethyn To be quite honest , I really don't think we become other people when our se...

The 20s are all about saying see you soon. Departures and goodbyes don't get any easier as you get older. In fact I would argue that they only become more and more difficult as your relationships become deeper and more substantial. Getting to know people on sincere levels of authenticity, vulnerable, and honesty is something I have to cherish and value the older I have become. Letting them go for both us of us to move on have never been more tumultuous. We grow. We grow up. We grow out. The kids are alright.  "It is both a blessing and a curse to feel everything so deeply" It wasn't until recently that I come to understand some semblance of what my parents meant when they said that they spend every waking moment thinking about us [their kids]. Through work, running errands, and even their relationship as partners at the back of their minds, if not the forefront, pass our faces and our plights. With five us, it must sometimes be overwhelming to have so many peop...

The 20s are all about accepting who you are. Everyone looks up to someone else. We all have at least one person that we admire for a multitude of reasons. Maybe it's their accomplishments or how they make you feel. Something about them just inspires you to keep striving on. They are what you aspire to be. They give you hope, courage, and empowerment. Look up in the sky; it's a bird; it's a plane; no it's the caped crusader.   Knowing who I look up to has always been easy for me to know. I cannot even begin to articulate the kind of people my parents are. What they have done for me cannot be described properly in words. It is beyond the plane of this Earthly existence and transcends all religiosity/spirituality. They have sacrificed so much to get me to where I am and for all their selfless work I am grateful. It is not just me though how they go about their lives daily is casually moving mountains. They save people left and right. They change lives, give hope, and s...