We all live extremely different and unique lives in
distinct parts of the world. However, we often push to the back of our minds
these other individuals and other parts of the world. It’s not that we mean to but rather
that we are human, and we tend to focus on ourselves for the most part. We have
our eyes half-closed, seeing only what’s
in front of us and not necessarily what is around us. Now, of course I am
guilty of this, constantly even. Yet, one experience I would like to share
really opened my eyes to the world around me a little bit more.
In my senior year of high school, my class and I traveled
to Costa Rica. This trip was meant to be more of the typical ‘senior class trip’ and in many ways, it was. We
only stayed for about a week and did various amounts of volunteer or missions work
including hanging out with some super cool kids at their school and pitching in
with a few construction projects. I have to admit that this was a great
experience for me and my classmates. I got to know some of the culture of Costa
Rica but not as much as I wanted.
Sure, this was a great experience, but I sadly did
not feel as though we were able to make much of an impact, and part of the
reason why was that we only went for a week. The other part is that this was a
typical senior trip. There’s
not necessarily anything bad about that, but I felt like a goal was not achieved
somehow.
Through that trip, I realized to make an impact,
you have to be fully dedicated to your cause and probably stay more than a
week. When I was there though, I got a taste of the culture and what it’s like to try and help people by
working with others. It got me to think about something other than myself and
my life. Rather, I wanted to experience more of that culture and of others.
Here are a couple of pictures (the dog's name is Raphael):
Thanks for reading! :)
