Most years, I tend to fall short in reaching my new goals for the year. I tend to set high goals, in hopes that I will reach just a portion of them.
But not this year. This year, I get to meet my goal. I've already met my goal. Sort of.
For 2016, I wanted to travel more and often, but especially, I wanted to travel abroad. Before 2016, I had been to 12 different states and had spend about 90 minutes "abroad" on a Bahamian island before I got injured and was back on the cruise ship, getting an x-ray done of my foot. I have had a deep seeded, lustrous, desirous, itching wanderlust for most of my life.
But in 2016, I got to travel to two new states and I've gone on multiple road trips. I got to explore new cities and towns in states I had already been in, and made millions of memories. But my hugest goal was to travel abroad, which I had started to chalk up to being something that would just have to wait until 2017. Until yesterday.
A few weeks ago, on a whim, I applied for a Winter Break Field Study program, as part of my Masters Degree. The course? Pilgrimage to Gandhi's India: Be the Change. The location? India. The timing? December 2016-January 2017. The idea? Social Justice Issues in India and following Gandhi's footsteps. I figured I could at least apply and see if I was able to afford it later, maybe pray to all of the deities that I could make the trip happen financially.
Well, yesterday I got an email confirming that I got a scholarship to pay for the last $1000 that I needed covered for the course and tuition costs.
I'M GOING TO INDIA!
Granted, I need to save up a little bit more money to afford the flight costs, but I did it.
I finally get to meet every goal I set for myself for 2016. Admittedly, hitting only two goals may not seem like a big deal to many people, but when you're in a financial bind and you've never even been given a passport, it's a pretty big deal.
But what's even huger than meeting my goal is the trip content itself. We will be guided through India by Mr. Arun Gnadhi, the 5th grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, visiting locations that were important to Gandhi's life - where we was imprisoned with his wife, where he was killed, his house, his ashram, and museums. We will also follow his legacy of social justice by visiting a college where illiterate women become solar power engineers, we will visit orphanages, and more. I will get to spend two whole weeks traveling through India, following and learning how to bring peace and social justice back to America.
As part of our pre-trip meetings, we attended a talk given by Mr. Arun Gandhi, titled "Non-Violence in a Violent World" He talked about how America, this huge powerhouse of a country, does not help to bring peace to the world. He reminded us, and maybe taught this concept newly to people, that the key to non-violent action is understanding, love, compassion, and respect. That if we do not approach war, violence, conflict, in a non-violent way, if we do not have love and respect for the opposition, then we will always live in a violent world. It is certainly not easy, though. He told us of a story back in 1913, when Mahatma Gandhi did his last major campaign of peace. He went to Africa to discuss, with the government, about racial injustice. After he had announced his campaign, but before he had launched it, another campaign, a rail-workers strike, occurred. They wanted Gandhi to join forces with them against their common enemy. But he refused. He told them that he did not have any enemies, just misguided friends. Those rail-workers got arrested and Gandhi was able to go on to speak with the government and helped to fix just one social injustice issue. That is one of the hugest lessons that we can learn today, is that not everyone is your enemy, that you have no enemies, just misguided friends.
I also got to sit down and chat with Arun Gandhi for 30 minutes before he headed to Brazil, and asked him some advice and questions about his talk the previous night. I asked about his advice on how America could become a peace leader of the world. And as he had mentioned the previous night, he said that the military in America has too much power. We discussed how the budget for the military could be cut down, which I agreed with, as it is too much.
As Americans, we have this mental image of ourselves as the ones who need to go into another country to save others, that we have the ultimate power and that we need to force people to be just like us. But isn't that why the original immigrants to America left Great Britain? That oppressive power? To get away from the violence and hatred?
Except everyone forgets where we came from - and it's not America. There is a small handful of Americans who do have Native American blood, such as myself, but for the most part, this country was built upon violence, of taking away the land and lives of those here before us. It has never sat well with me, and now I know why. In order to truly be a world leader, we need to break down and rebuild our country. We are being presented with a unique opportunity to do so, with our current election, actually. Regardless of who gets voted in as President, they will be changing the course of history. They will have the choice to make America a peace leader of the world. Or to continue on the path that we are on now.
While I am worried about the election, I am not worried about this - that we can change and that we are changing. People are finally seeing and understanding the social injustices of the world. People are speaking up, out, and about the social injustices across the globe. They are looking for a way to change. They want to change, but they are scared and they don't know how.
I am here to tell you, and I will continue to share what I learn. But I can tell you for absolute certain, that love is the answer. 2016 has been an amazing and terrifying year all mushed together. There have been multiple massacres, too many deaths, the 15th anniversary of a terrifying day, and more. But there have also been thousands and thousands of births, there have been celebrations of love and joy, there have been leaps and bounds of acceptance and love. So we just have to keep that up. We have to keep spreading the love, we have to try to understand and accept, we have to respect each other and the differences we have and share, and we have to have compassion.
If you used to be racist, but you want to find another way, I applaud you. If you used to be homophobic, but you realize that your behavior was wrong and silly, I applaud you. You want to make change, you want to become a better person, you want the world to be better.
I know it's difficult and it will always be difficult, but all we can do is try. I know I am going to try. I am going to learn and I am going to share. I can't wait to visit India. I can't wait to experience the world. I can't wait to walk in his shoes, to learn peace from the master and his family. I can't wait to share it with everyone.
As M.K. Gandhi said "Be the change you want to see in the world."
So, until next time--
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