the World is so BIG

Well, I sure am glad I am figuring this out so early in my trip.

Not that I really thought the World was small, but I certainly needed the reminder that there are so many people in the World, doing amazing things, making radical life changes to benefit others and fulfilling their part of a much bigger plan.

For all of those people, if they are doing it right, they aren't trying to save the World themselves, or be there to watch the World when it is saved, they have simply identified how they can grow the movement of giving, within their communities, or themselves.

Wow, that is going to take a while to sink in.

And again, it's not that I thought I would come all the way over here for a few weeks and make everything better for these kids, but if I was being honest, I was probably hoping that I would be remembered.  How selfish!  What I am here to be a part of over the next few weeks is about these children, and doing what I can, for as long as I can, in the best way I know how so the next volunteer can build off where I've left and do the same.  And after hundreds of volunteers, some of these kids will have learned English fluently as a second language, be motivated to go to college, and feel so loved by their family at ODA that they start a family themselves.  To be a part of that bigger movement, should be enough.

In the book 'A Cathedral Within', the author nails it for me, and why I'm here.

"Doing something that counts. It's a basic human need. We need it like we need love.  It's the need we aren't sure how to talk about, the one that makes us feel....whole."

So, here I am. Not trying to save the World. Not (anymore) trying to be remembered.  But being here to do something that counts and work towards feeling whole again.

And with that stream of thought, I am off for a full day at the orphanage and then night classes at the Village schools.