What are you going to do with it...?

Someone once said, “Ignorance is bliss.” For those of us who are blessed with the opportunity to learn and be educated, we are unfortunately—or fortunately—bound to becoming an asset to our community and to thinking on a more global level…as opposed to being selfish and narcissistic and living only in the world directly around us. When I was in tenth grade, I was identified as an “outstanding leader in my community and school.” Because of this I was granted to opportunity to attend the Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership seminar in Central Pennsylvania (www.hoby.org). HOBY changed the way I thought about the world… it wasn’t just me anymore, it was a something bigger. I began to understand the importance of volunteering in my community and giving back to a world in which I was blessed to be one of the more fortunate members of society. I went back to HOBY every subsequent year in various roles, I did a lot of community service projects, and I assumed leadership responsibilities in my school and community in an effort to “change the world.” Though I didn’t necessarily move mountains at the time, I was definitely helping others around me and thinking beyond myself.

Time passed, college came and went, grad school took me to another part of the country, I made the “big move”—and, through being so absorbed in my studies and “life” in general, I began to forget my importance to society. It became a lot more about “me” again and my HOBY enthusiasm became a dim light in my past—which was exactly what I didn’t want to happen, and was exactly what I preached others not to let life do to those who have so much to give.

So, here I was: 25 years old, two jobs, and no time for anything else in my schedule—and I decided it was time to get back to my HOBY roots and volunteer for the 2008 seminar. I couldn’t wait to cheer and meet my kids and gain back that enthusiasm I was so longing for... I couldn’t wait to see the look on everyone’s faces after they came home from the mock legislature or their community service project… I couldn’t wait to feel a sense of accomplishment on the last day when my kids didn’t want to leave and were so electrified with the HOBY spirit! …However, this year was a bit different for me. This year, I felt all of those things—but, I also felt a little more. This year, with some enlightenment from a friend, I realized that I had a new understanding of the question we asked our ambassadors on the final day of HOBY; that question was, “What are you going to do with it?” When I was a tenth grader confronted by this question, it meant something to me that was something very different than what it meant to me as a 25 year old. You see, at first glance, volunteering in your community, getting involved in your school, and joining organizations is only the first step. Because, after you’ve done all of those things—you’ve only begun the first step in becoming a leader. It’s not just about using your passions for the betterment of the greater good, but it is also absolving to be one of the greater good and pushing your limits daily in order to create change. Now, there is no step by step program for this… and I’m still not exactly sure where this enlightenment will take me, but, I’ve come to a point where there is no going back. I want to no longer be on the track to becoming a pawn to pop culture and the game of life, I want to take life by storm (!) and create my realities and opportunities for the common good.

Funnily enough, on my trek home from HOBY I happened to be on the subway and—because my ipod ran out of batteries—I was not listening to the noise of the latest pop song, but instead I was observant and open to what was going on around me. After about five minutes, I noticed a quote on one of the advertisement panels at the top of the train. (In an effort to educate, the MTA and the New York Poetry Society has created something called “Poetry in Motion” which is really a unique way to bring famous quotes to transit riders). This one was a quote by E.B White, who you may know as writer of the children’s book Charlotte’s Web, in which he says,

“There are roughly three New Yorks. There is, first, the New York of the man or woman who was born there, who takes the city for granted and accepts its size, its turbulence as natural and inevitable. Second, there is the New York of the commuter–the city that is devoured by locusts each day and spat out each night. Third, there is New York of the person who was born somewhere else and came to New York in quest of something. Of these trembling cities the greatest is the last–the city of final destination, the city that is a goal. It is this third city that accounts for New York’s high strung disposition, its poetical deportment, its dedication to the arts, and its incomparable achievements. Commuters give the city its tidal restlessness, natives give it solidity and continuity, but the settlers give it passion.”

So, what am I going to do with it, you may ask? For now, I am ready to get back to being a part of my global and local community, I am a ready for change, and I am ready to take my passions and my reignited HOBY flame and find my place not only in this big city, but in this big country, this big world.