A Little Harder

When I was running today in Narnia, I became acutely aware on this first day of spring recess, where I was one year ago. Perhaps it was the cloudless sky, or the barren landscape that is Narnia in late winter. But one thing became painfully clear:

It isn’t what it was last year.

One year ago this day I returned from a voyage wherein I discarded all the preconceptions I once had about a place, a project, and a people.

As I reflect now, vicariously through those who carry on this tradition today, I find myself amidst a sea of emotion. For the single week I spent in Newark was one that is always hard to forget.

It taught me how to sacrifice, how to suffer, and how to appreciate what I have now – Moreover.

Some of us here didn’t partake, and that’s fine. Not all are called to serve in such a capacity. But for those of us who are, I remember what it was like to participate in such a grand experience, and the memory it forged.

I will fail if I try, to recapture everything that trip taught me. But I do know this:

What I learned of those people and that school was merely a figment of what occurs around the world. Everyday.

There is discrimination in this world. And slavery. And slaughter. And starvation. But there is also opportunity for those who seek it.

A speech one young man made to the children of South Africa on their day of affirmation in 1966 sums it up the best.

“We can perhaps remember, even if only for a time – That those who live with us are our brothers. And they seek, as we do, to live out their lives in purpose and in happiness - Seeking whatever fulfillment or satisfaction they can. And perhaps we can work a little harder to bind up the wounds among us, to become brothers and country-men once again.”

That is why I work harder today. And why I thank God for everything I have, and pray for those who do not.