Work to Change....the System
Do you ever get the feeling that you could be doing more with your life? That question has been a steady undercurrent in my mind for a long time, and has come to the forefront more often in the past 6 months or so. That's not to say I dislike my life--quite the contrary. I love my life. My friends are the best, my family is loving and supportive, I like my job, etc. All the trappings of comfort and happiness. And yet I'm so comfortable that I'm restless. There is very little that I proactively do in my everyday life that positively affects others. Okay, I give some money to causes I believe in, I've done a little volunteer work, I'm generally a nice person, but nothing to hang my hat on.
So recently I decided to get involved with Engineers Without Borders. My friend is involved with a chapter at U of M, so I went to some meetings in the early fall. Unfortunately, I found it difficult to get involved. Not sure if it's my fault for not being aggressive enough, or just too difficult because I'm not in Ann Arbor. My fire died out and I was back living the day-to-day life that I'm so used to.
Luckily, a second round of "trying to get involved" has been sparked by reading the book No More Prisons. If you need a motivating, kick-you-in-the-ass kind of book, this is it. Highly recommended--If you want, I'll send you my copy when I'm done. The author basically put together a series of essays he's written on personally affecting social change--very inspirational. His theory is to find something you're passionate about and just go do it. Self-educate. Use your passion as your motivation. Learn from everyone. Don't be complacent. Fuck all the barriers you have in your mind, just go out and do it. I'm so into it I'm even all riled up about homeschooling the kids I don't even have [the topic of another section of the book].
My initial thought is to try the national EWB organization and get involved that way, but I have all those inadequate feelings of not being able to contribute. Just reading over their volunteer application form made me feel useless! I can't speak foreign languages (save for a smattering of french), I haven't been involved with other overseas efforts, I haven't even done a lot of volunteer work close to home! There's just not a lot of basic human needs that can be met by an acoustics engineer.
Which brought me to my second dilemma. Can I justify going overseas to help others when there are so many people in my own city who need help? Think globally, act locally, right? Perhaps the short-term answer is to get involved in and around Detroit. Maybe it'll take off, maybe it will give me some crucial learning and experience to branch out to other (international?) endeavours.
I just hope the fire doesn't die out inside me before I get my butt in gear (as it often does when I get excited about something).
So recently I decided to get involved with Engineers Without Borders. My friend is involved with a chapter at U of M, so I went to some meetings in the early fall. Unfortunately, I found it difficult to get involved. Not sure if it's my fault for not being aggressive enough, or just too difficult because I'm not in Ann Arbor. My fire died out and I was back living the day-to-day life that I'm so used to.
Luckily, a second round of "trying to get involved" has been sparked by reading the book No More Prisons. If you need a motivating, kick-you-in-the-ass kind of book, this is it. Highly recommended--If you want, I'll send you my copy when I'm done. The author basically put together a series of essays he's written on personally affecting social change--very inspirational. His theory is to find something you're passionate about and just go do it. Self-educate. Use your passion as your motivation. Learn from everyone. Don't be complacent. Fuck all the barriers you have in your mind, just go out and do it. I'm so into it I'm even all riled up about homeschooling the kids I don't even have [the topic of another section of the book].
My initial thought is to try the national EWB organization and get involved that way, but I have all those inadequate feelings of not being able to contribute. Just reading over their volunteer application form made me feel useless! I can't speak foreign languages (save for a smattering of french), I haven't been involved with other overseas efforts, I haven't even done a lot of volunteer work close to home! There's just not a lot of basic human needs that can be met by an acoustics engineer.
Which brought me to my second dilemma. Can I justify going overseas to help others when there are so many people in my own city who need help? Think globally, act locally, right? Perhaps the short-term answer is to get involved in and around Detroit. Maybe it'll take off, maybe it will give me some crucial learning and experience to branch out to other (international?) endeavours.
I just hope the fire doesn't die out inside me before I get my butt in gear (as it often does when I get excited about something).
random bits cobbled together by j-dub
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home