Goodbye and Hello

This will be the last you will hear from me in New York, and I am actually in Washington, D.C. All the official business is wrapped up in New York, so I took a bus from Chinatown early yesterday to Philadelphia for the day. After a full day of walking around there and seeing all the sights, I took another bus down here to D.C. to meet up with my friend Alison. This brief trip is serving as decompression time for me, in order for me to be able to disconnect myself from New York and move onto Belize refreshed and ready to give it everything I have. I will do this in some way between each stop on my journey, based on the recommendation of David, a friend who was a main source of encouragement and insight during the planning phase of this journey. I am very excited to finally meet up with him and his wife tomorrow night for dinner and share my experiences thus far, as well as learn more about his.

There is really not much to share with everyone about the past week, as it has mainly consisted of me packing all my possessions into my pack and lugging it all around the city. I am now staying in the Bronx with my good friend, Adam, and will be there for only three more days once I get back. I will then take my final subway ride on my way to JFK for a 3am flight to Belize, on my way to yet another temporary life-altering experience. Every time I face transition in my life, I tend to, as I think most people do, become very reflective and philosophic about my own life, and life in general. This current transition is no exception. My thoughts have turned to trying to understand what the past 10 weeks have taught me about who I am as a person, what qualities I possess, and how well I am using those qualities to make myself, others, and the world as a whole a better place.

One thing that definitely became apparent about myself is that no matter how much I love adventure and embarking on difficult personal challenges, I do not thrive fully without having the incredible base of people around me that I have in Oregon, Washington, and California, and spread sparsely throughout the rest of the world. Being a very social, extroverted person, I should not expect otherwise, though I also should not avoid situations such as this that help me to grow and understand these truths about myself on a deeper level. Through this process, I discovered a deeper empathetic spirit than I knew I possessed. Sometimes this empathy was uncontrollable and rendered me to be what I considered useless in the battle I was trying to fight. Through closing conversations with coworkers and clients at the offices I was at in Brooklyn, I found that they absolutely did not feel the same way. Though I understand I did not perform perfectly while I was there, I learned that overall they each felt I contributed in a very positive and impacting way. Solving the problems of everyone who came through the doors was not my job, nor was it realistic. What was my job was making everyone feel cared about and inspired to solve their own problems. Based on that job description, I performed very well. Another thought about the empathetic spirit I discovered in myself is that I believe it was, and continues to be, the driving force for this entire journey, and for the founding of ERACE Poverty. Without being able to feel the needs, pain, or happiness of others, no charity work would ever be done, no favors would ever be granted, and, I would argue, human love would not possible at all. There I go getting philosophic again.

As I close this entry, I would like to send a very sincere thanks to everyone in New York who has given of themselves, their knowledge, time, and talents to me while I was here. A special thank you to Jon Dingman, who let me stay, essentially rent-free, at his apartment in Brooklyn for the duration of my stay, and to all of the staff and clients of CFL, who taught me so much, either directly through sharing their expertise or indirectly through simply sharing their lives. Also, I am continually thankful for everyone I have back home, who are continually supporting me in various ways. Everyone's thoughts, prayers, and phone calls have helped me understand that I am not doing this alone, and that this is part of a much bigger purpose.

Photo time! The first photo is of me in LOVE Park in front of the LOVE sculpture in Philadelphia. This sculpture very simply, yet very profoundly states what I believe is at the core of every human being, and what I believe must be nurtured through action. The next is of a beautiful Christmas display in Macy's, right next to City Hall in Philadelphia. Everyday at noon and 5:30pm they have Christmas music playing on a huge pipe organ, along with a small light show. It was wonderful. Next, I am sitting with my beautiful girlfriend, Ashley, and my amazing little niece and goddaughter, Lilli. I finally got a photo of myself with the Adult Employment Program employees at CFL. Lastly, I stand next to the Liberty Bell, with Liberty Hall, where the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, among many other very important documents, were signed.

One final thought. Yesterday, while touring Freedom Hall, I learned that the Declaration of Independence was supposed to be signed on July 2 rather than July 4. The reason for the delay is that there was some trouble with the verbiage of what I think the tour guide called "the conscience of a nation." All the signers of the Declaration of independence agreed that they wanted a republic government, and they wanted it that way so there would be no abuse of power and that everyone would be seen as equal on U.S. soil. These are the words they finally came up with - "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Without publicly passing any judgment, I pose the following question. Have we upheld the values and principles our great nation was founded on?