Connected

Keeping a blog is hard work (ne zezamse); bear with me as I navigate these unknown waters. It's hard to imagine that just two nights ago I was sitting cross-legged on the tiled floor of a Princeton auditorium surrounded by other BYP students, preparing for the adventure of a lifetime. In the farewell ceremony, the coordinators and previous BYP students led us in activities that stimulated reflection on the journeys that we were to undertake. Our first instruction was to think of a word that embodied, the most important part of our experience, taking into consideration our expectations, anticipations and fears. My word was "grounded;" I wish to stay grounded in the positive aspects of my character and my faith so that I can only grow in one direction: forward. Then, we each had to take the same ball of string and tie it around our wrist once while saying something that we wish to leave behind us, and once again while intoning something that we wished to take with us to our respective service placements. I hope to leave behind "perfectionism" and take with me "compassion" as I continue my voyage in these following months. After tying the string around our wrists, we threw the ball to a person across from us, eventually forming a web. This was an visualization that embodied the connection that we now shared, both in what were to be similar experiences of service and in the network that we would become a part of once we returned to Princeton. This activity showed us the shared mutual dependance characteristic of our parallel journeys and that even in future instances of great difficulty, we are not alone. We then cut the strings connecting us for practical purposes (haha), but tied the string and bead around our wrists as a reminder of this moment for months to come.