Thankful

We aren't really celebrating Thanksgiving here until Saturday, but I figured since it was Thanksgiving back in the states, I'd take a moment to write about the things I am thankful for. (If the 'corny post' warning wasn't clear from all that, you haven't had your first cup of coffee or tea or shower or whatever does it for you.)

I'm thankful for the first amendment. I'm thankful for four years at Swarthmore, RAing two fantastic halls, great professors and unending Sharples meals. I'm thankful for liking myself enough to laugh at myself. I'm grateful for getting to see so much of the world, and the new friends who have tried to make me feel at home on several continents. I'm grateful for dogs, fall days, long books, good infastructure, cuddling, curry, and green apples.

A boy in my Truman class, Andrew Hammond, recently won a Rhodes Scholarship and he closed his response to the slew of congratulatory emails with "Stay in touch when you can and when you can't, know that there are others slogging through public
service all over the world, and there are many more who do not have the luxury to choose service." I am grateful to have had enough security and joy in my life to want to spend it making the world better. That's obviously a nearly impossible choice to make if you are struggling to survive, but I think it's also a much more difficult choice if one had a financially insecure childhood in the US, etc. Public service is a luxury choice or a very brave one.

I'm also grateful that all the sacrifices I've had to make are small ones. It's sometimes difficult to be away from my family and friends but in the long run, I haven't had to give anything up to do what I want to do. Part of me thinks you aren't really an adult until you learn that you can't have everything, but I'm very thankful for a life without painful choices so far.

I'm thankful for the opportunities I have had. Over the last two years, several different people or organizations have been willing to invest money so that I could have various opportunities-- working on a project with refugee children in Vermont, going to Tanzania, traveling to remote Northwestern Tanzania, getting the Truman, this job. I'm very grateful for this and sometimes in order to justify it, I take a determinist approach: I must be given this opportunities for a reason, because I am intended to do something. Ultimately, though, I don't believe that the events in our life ever deliberately guide us to any final destiny. Therefore, it's my job to make the most of everything that happens to me and to justify it through what I take away from it.

Most of all, I'm thankful for the incredible wealth of people in my life. I'm grateful I have friends who inspire me, who can understand the things I'm not ready to say, and who believe in me even as they laugh at me. I'm grateful for parents who I know will always love me and who always ask the right questions, a sister who teaches me to be more honest with myself on a daily basis, and an extended family that shows me just how many ways there are to lead a meaningful life.

The theme of our graduation speech was about leaping into the proverbial net while also being the net. This sounds like a cliche, but when one is just about to venture out into the wide, wide world and one hasn't slept in a week, it can really get you. I've thought about it a lot since, especially since taking this job. I'm thankful to be loved enough and feel safe enough to believe in endless possibility and not be afraid of risk.