This time of year

Graduation time. The time for the end of something long-fought and hard-earned, and the beginning of something new. New faces, new locations, new challenges and new struggles. Life is full of these it seems, and never seems to let down. This is why we have decided to do something different. I fear that life will simply lull or pound me into concession and submission. Submission to something I never necessarily asked for, and concession of all the crazy dreams and ideals of youth. So the call is to become the best version of yourself, or so the Matthew Kelly craze of late has termed it. I believe there is a lot of truth to be found in these words, and the real truth of the matter is that what it takes to become that best version of ourselves is very different for each one of us. For me, this means taking some time off with a brother and friend and attempting to travel around the world. Do you ever feel like life here in the states is conducted over some kind of safety net? That all of our risks and struggles are real, but if ever we should fall, there is always someone there to pick us back up again? Well, however unfortunately, I do not feel that this is real life. No one asked any one of us whether we wanted to be born, and the fact that we were born does not entitle us to anything. Perhaps you say it should, that every human person deserves dignity and the right to life, and I agree, and in this great country, the United States of America, these rights are often preserved. But at the same time we are sheltered and coaxed into thinking that we have it the best, and therefore why go anywhere else. That every other country in the world is essentially in disarray, and so there is no need ever to leave. That everything we here have is as it should be, and so we should not protest. Just go on about your life, get yours, and life will be fine. I hesitate, I chafe, I know there is something more and I want a piece of it. I want life to fight back, I want to have to struggle to make things work, I want a little taste of blood in my mouth every once in a while. This comfortable, established, and ordered life is certainly for some, and perhaps will better agree with me at some point as well, but not now. Now I take life by the horns and run with it, run to the far corners of the globe in exploration and expectation of finding the great truths of life hidden in some backwoods or alley gutter. I expect to find it raining in the Amazons of Brazil or in the concise steel structures of Tokyo. Life is lived by exploring new possibilities and new potentials.

The questions are asked: how much money do you have? What about all of the shots, vaccinations, visas, etc.? My answer is another question: how much does it take to travel the world? And are you going to let the little things stop you from chasing your dream?

There is the famous platitude that one should shoot for the moon, and if one fails to reach it, that person will still find themselves among the stars. This trip is not so much about the external reality, but more about what kind of changes and impacts the external reality is going to have on our souls. This trip is a journey of the soul if you will. A quest to find ourselves, with the knowledge that we will be stretched, will be challenged, will have let-downs and triumphs, and at the end that we will come out stronger people for what we have sought and achieved, whether this be an accomplished journey around the world, or simply an expedition to the West Coast and back. And so I venture to ask you:

What are your dreams? And what are you doing to make them a reality in your life?