LIVE!!

*SOOO, some of you might wonder what I am actually learning. Totally valid question. I spend most days outside, soaking up some rays fresh off the equator. Well, let me ask you this: what does a dollar mean to you? One singular dollar bill. I personally LOVE the dollar store. You can get virtually anything there for a dollar. Dollar menu at Mc D’s. 100 Penny texting. It’s nothing. Dirt cheap.

*Here’s a dilemma: one out of six people live off less than $1 dollar a day. I can tell you one thing, if you’re reading this you’re on a computer. You’re not one of the six. Neither are your friends. Does that mean it’s not important? Just because you don’t see them, doesn’t mean they’re not out there. 1.1 billion people lived in dire poverty. That means they struggle to find fresh water, shelter, food, etc. Because of these conditions, 20,000 people die a day. That’s like erasing an entire basketball arena in one day. Every day. If that doesn’t take your breath away, then I dare you to live one day on a dollar. I can’t do it. Can you?

*Since we’re on a role, let’s do another one. Who has bought Shell’s gas today? Recently? I know my family has. I have countless times. Now, if you do one thing today, Wikipedia the word ‘Ogoniland.’ Everyone knows Shell. They should- they profit 300 BILLION dollars a year. Pretty nice wad of cash in their pretty nice pockets isn’t it? But here’s the thing, they receive some of their gas in Africa. Their lines run through families farms. Every week, there is an average of 4 oil spills, most often caused by faulty lines (aka Shell’s fault). So these families means of making a living, feeding their family, and thriving is in jeopardy. What does Shell do when oil is running rampant on their land? Well, nothing. That’s right, absolutely NOTHING. Their crops are ruined, the children begin to die, and that’s that. Sometimes, if they are feeling guilty, they’ll burn it. After it’s burned, it’s useless. The land is ruined. I guess it’s convenient that Shell has enough power that they can turn their back and refuse to accept the responsibly for their mess, to this day. $300 Billion dollars and not one cent goes to these families. DISGUSTING, Shell.

*So what am I learning? I am learning how good it feels to stop looking at life from the American paradigm. It is the most frightening, tragic, and beautiful thing. The reality is we have it so good we don’t even know it. Being ‘broke’ to us implies taking out loans to help support college funds. Some people are so poor they couldn’t even get a $27 dollar loan to start a business (look up Grahmeen Bank). The slowly approaching 4 dollar a gallon tank takes out a huge chunk from our wallet, but does it kill our family? Literally kill our family? And a dollar. One dollar. That’s nothing. For some people, it’s the everything that lets them make it to the next day. The truth is we live in a paradigm.

*Let’s put it in perspective. 9/11 changed our country. Everyone talks of pre-9/11 and post-9/11 as a marker. There are people who live 9/11 every day of their lives. Terrorist attacks. Suicide bombings. Hundreds of children shot in Brazil by the police in favellas. 58 shot and killed when they protested against Shell’s treatment towards them. **At first, you think, ‘wow, this is depressing’. They’re not depressed. Some of them are the happiest people I’ve ever met. They live a life free of materialistic greed. All they ask for is enough to make a living. Land. Water. Food. At a school in Mauritius, I donated 200 rupee (roughly 8 dollars). 8 dollars doesn’t mean much of anything to me, but they asked in awe if I wanted change back. 8 dollars. The smallest difference helps. If everyone who could lived comfortably gave one dollar, that’s 5.6 billion dollars that could be used to make a difference. Maybe instead of gathering an army of children, Brad and Angelina could actually donate to the kids they leave behind, making a difference for all of them.

*This trip isn’t about learning when their constitution was written. It’s about learning how to live. You can keep saying ‘I want to go do this before I die.’ Or, you can just do it. We place all theses restraints on ourselves in a world of ‘can not’, ‘should not’, ‘will not’. We can stay blinded, or we can go outside our boundaries and live life. Set goals. Dream big. Make a difference. But most of all,

LIVE.