Energy
There's an energy in the world that can't be measured. I'm not talking about the physics definition of energy (because spoiler alert: that can be measured), I'm talking about that feeling. That feeling that we as human beings feel and share a connection over that common feeling. When it's midnight and you're in a movie theatre full of people, and that title comes on and you sense all the people around you are over the moon emotional. When you are at a concert, surrounded by strangers and friends alike, and you hear that chord, those notes, and you see the stranger next to you tear up, and then you do too because you realize that you are a part of something bigger than yourself. If we want to relate this energy to something us peeps on this trip might relate to, it's the feeling on a basketball court when all 5 players touch the ball, and keep on zipping it around until the perfect shot is available and we all just know, it has to go in. Energy. It can be felt by just one person, or shared with others all at once. Energy. It's in those special moments we find reasons to continue on and keep on loving this crazy thing called life.
So today we didn't go to any wild concerts or really do that much of anything outside of the normal. We did however go to the graduation ceremony for the primary students. This was actually our second graduation we have attended on the trip, and, just like American graduations, Dominican graduations are long and hot. We have had our fair share of long, hot days here so I think heading into it we might have been feeling fairly cynical. Another event to sit through where we can't understand anything that's happening. But then something magical happened, and took over the room full of sweaty people: little kids dressed up in caps and gowns walked in, and then we lost all reasons for cynicism. Even though we were in pants on a 90 degree day and we didn't know what was going on, something changed. Something changed in the whole room, because as I looked around I saw pure joy. Joy in the kids faces as they posed for pictures. Joy only a parent can have in their little child as they wear that cap and gown proudly. Even as the kids struggled through songs and going through the alphabet letter by letter (I think they made it to t, which apparently is good enough to graduate primary school), parents were joyful. The teachers were joyful, and we, the awkward gringos on the side, were joyful.
You see, we felt the energy, the energy of a shared experience. That feeling that even though life can suck sometimes, and trips can be not what anyone expected, and people can get on your nerves, but none of that matters. Because then a 5 year old just said the colors of the rainbow in English and you get filled with joy from seeing that child succeed, and then you are filled with even more joy from sharing in that joy with those around you. So here we are, almost 4 weeks into our journey. We are sunburnt, cut up, bitten up everywhere by bugs, sitting in a hot church in pants sweating everywhere and not understanding a word. Yet that energy, that community, that shared joy pulls us together. And in that moment I swear, we are infinite.
Jimmy
So today we didn't go to any wild concerts or really do that much of anything outside of the normal. We did however go to the graduation ceremony for the primary students. This was actually our second graduation we have attended on the trip, and, just like American graduations, Dominican graduations are long and hot. We have had our fair share of long, hot days here so I think heading into it we might have been feeling fairly cynical. Another event to sit through where we can't understand anything that's happening. But then something magical happened, and took over the room full of sweaty people: little kids dressed up in caps and gowns walked in, and then we lost all reasons for cynicism. Even though we were in pants on a 90 degree day and we didn't know what was going on, something changed. Something changed in the whole room, because as I looked around I saw pure joy. Joy in the kids faces as they posed for pictures. Joy only a parent can have in their little child as they wear that cap and gown proudly. Even as the kids struggled through songs and going through the alphabet letter by letter (I think they made it to t, which apparently is good enough to graduate primary school), parents were joyful. The teachers were joyful, and we, the awkward gringos on the side, were joyful.
You see, we felt the energy, the energy of a shared experience. That feeling that even though life can suck sometimes, and trips can be not what anyone expected, and people can get on your nerves, but none of that matters. Because then a 5 year old just said the colors of the rainbow in English and you get filled with joy from seeing that child succeed, and then you are filled with even more joy from sharing in that joy with those around you. So here we are, almost 4 weeks into our journey. We are sunburnt, cut up, bitten up everywhere by bugs, sitting in a hot church in pants sweating everywhere and not understanding a word. Yet that energy, that community, that shared joy pulls us together. And in that moment I swear, we are infinite.
Jimmy
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