"Girl Rising": Born into Privilege

Such inspiration has struck me tonight! It seems like every time I go to an Alternative Spartan Breaks meeting or event, I leave feeling like I am going to CHANGE THE WORLD. Which, well, I am: one issue at a time.

At the meeting tonight we watched a documentary called "Girl Rising" about a few extraordinary girls worldwide who were changing the status quo and taking control of their lives by enrolling in school. The documentary gave some astounding statistics about female education rates throughout the world, and the rate of girls who had no education and had AIDS, died from child birth, or were married off young compared to girls who had the privilege of receiving an education. The facts that were presented were ASTOUNDING, and really made me take a step back and evaluate my own life in comparison to these girls (who were, by the way, usually around 8-13 years old).

I was born into a white, middle-class family in a fairly-stable town in the United States. How much better off can I get? And one thing I realized while watching this video, was that I was really just born lucky. There is no particular reason that I was born to the family I have rather than a poor family in Afghanistan or India who is struggling to survive. Why do I have the things I have? Simply because I was born into the right family, in the right place, at the right time. Now that is something hard to swallow. If you really think about it, this is the case for most of us: we were born privileged. And, sadly, millions, even billions of children around the world are not born privileged like we are. They have to struggle and fight, and often die for the simplest of pleasures: clean water, food, shelter, and an education.

Another thing this documentary really made me analyze was the things I complain about on a day-to-day basis. "I don't know what to do with my life: should I be a writer or a marketer? An engineer or a scientist? A doctor or a social worker?" Take a step back. Think about this. No matter what you do, you will most likely still end up with a job, and an education in something. The question for me and my situation is, what will make me happy? The question for girls across the country is, what will help me survive? What will keep me safe from rape? What will prevent me from having to get married and have children at age 11 (an age where I was still playing with Barbie dolls)?

Lastly, I've realized something. It means a lot to me to go out and find these girls (and boys) with these stories, and to help people who were not born into privilege like I was. It means the world to me to make a difference in the lives of others while I am here, so that when I am gone, it won't matter where someone is born or the color of their skin, or their sex, because everywhere in the world, children will be SURROUNDED by opportunity. People will be surrounded by opportunity. People can be the heroes we read about and idolize from comic books, but we have to get started now if we are going to get anywhere.

There you have it, my inspirational and somewhat-crazy thought of the hour. I'm not going to drop everything I have to take the next ship to Cambodia (if anything, I'm going to continue my education so that I have the resources to help these people, and I act as an example for them), but I am going to seriously evaluate my life choices as I make them. I urge you to do the same. Next time you go to the cafeteria or the grocery store and grow angry when you realize that they don't have your favorite dish, think about those people who would kill for just one bite of your hamburger. Next time you feel down on yourself or sad because you don't have a boyfriend, think of all of those girls who are married at age 11 and have no choice as to who they are going to spend the rest of their life with. Next time you get tired of doing your homework and decide that watching Netflix is more important, think of those girls whose parents can't afford to send them to school and instead send them to work. Reevaluate what really matters: I know I did.

Home

Have you ever travelled back to a place that you went to in your childhood, and had this somewhat heavy feeling of nostalgia hit you right in the chest? Or have you ever seen something that reminded you of distant memories and smiled complacently to yourself?

I was just thinking about the fact that I am going home this upcoming Friday for the Hallmark Christmas Sale (no joke), and how recently, when I go home, this feeling hits me. My hometown is starting to not feel like my everyday place of life anymore: it is beginning to feel like a town filled with my memories. I guess what I mean is, it is still my home and always will be, but in a way, it is not my home anymore. Does that make sense?

It certainly is strange to go back to the place where I spent 18 years of my life not thinking I was ever going to feel like a stranger there. "Stranger" isn't the right word...I think a better term would be "visitor". I am a visitor in my own home. When I drive around the local Meijer's and clothing stores and when I wander downtown, everything feels...different. It feels like I am looking at everything from an outside perspective, rather than the insider's perspective that I had when I lived there. I'm not sure how I feel about this; what does it mean? And if I can't call the place of my birth my "home" anymore, where is my home?

Can I have multiple homes? What is it like for older people who move away from their homes and make new homes for themselves? I would imagine that a part of them always stays in their hometown, but doesn't it make people nervous to move away and start your life completely on your own? I'm not sure that I'm ready for this level of independence, though I keep telling myself that I am. A part of me wishes I could just live at home forever, but obviously this is not a legitimate idea.

So what is it like, to move away and start a life for yourself? And what do you think of as your "true home"?