December 12 2010 / MV Explorer

Well, I guess here we are.  The end of an awesome, phenomenal journey, filled with more sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and feelings than my body has room for.  It’s going to take months, if not years, to process it all.  I know and can feel it somewhere in my heart that I’ve been changed, but how?  Hopefully for the better, but who knows?  How long will it take before the journey starts to slip away from me as I sink into Privileged American Life, doing Privileged American Things?  Then again, who says the journey has to end here?  My journey is continuing, and it’s going to keep going for much more time to come, I hope. 

As for these magical countries I’ve visited:  Spain, Morocco, Ghana, South Africa, Mauritius, India, Singapore, Vietnam, Cambodia, China, Japan… all of these places have taught me magical things I’ve never known before.  You see poverty as statistics until you see the widespread shantytowns of Ghana.  Genocides are a thing of the past before Cambodia.  True wildlife, a thing that doesn’t exist until the plains of South Africa.  Quiet refinement mixed with loneliness never has been prominent before Japan.  More than anything I’ve learned, I’ve come to understand so much more about the human spirit in the face of adversary, that no matter what—whether poverty, racism, oppression, or violence—the human spirit can persevere.  Together, we can lift each other up.  The earth is not as large as we tend to think, and we are all connected.  We need to achieve peace, prosperity, and preservation in our world.  With our common humanity, I know we can hold our hands out to each other and to the world and save each other.  We can do this, but we must do it together. 

I am so grateful for my parents for giving me this incredible opportunity, as well as all my friends at home for reading my blog and leaving comments or sending me emails.  You have no idea how much they meant to me.  I’m grateful for all the incredible friends I’ve made here, especially Julie, Jared, Ellie, Martha, and Lorelei.  You guys are the best and I love you and wish you the biggest happiness ever in life.  I won’t say goodbye because I know I’m destined to see you all again, and soon! 

THANKS FOR GIVING ME THE WORLD!  I feel as though I’ve learned, most importantly, how to take care of it.  :)

“It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.”
     -- Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot, 1994