I don't usually read forwarded emails...

but I'm glad I read this one. Just thought I'd pass it on a little more:

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: "NEVER UNDERESTIMATE YOUR POWER TO CHANGE YOURSELF...AND, NEVER 0VERESTIMATE YOUR POWER TO CHANGE OTHERS."
The Japanese monkey, Macaca Fuscata, has been observed in the wild for over 40 years. In 1952, on the island of Koshima, scientists started feeding the monkeys by dropping sweet potatoes in the sand. While the monkeys liked the taste of the potatoes, they didn't like the
sand.
An 18-month-old female named Imo found she could solve the problem by washing the potatoes in a nearby stream. She taught this trick to her mother and to her playmates, who also taught their mothers. Over a period of several years, all the young monkeys on the island learned to wash the sandy sweet potatoes to make them more palatable.
But only the adults who imitated the children learned this trick. Other adults kept eating the sandy sweet potatoes. Then something startling took place. In the autumn of 1958, a certain number of Koshima monkeys were washing their sweet potatoes-nobody knows how many. For the sake of the story, let's suppose that when the sun rose one morning there were 99 monkeys on Koshima Island who had learned to wash their sweet potatoes. Let's further suppose that later that morning, a hundredth monkey learned to wash the potatoes.
That's when it happened. The additional energy of this hundredth monkey seemed to create an ideological breakthrough for the entire species. By that evening, nearly every monkey in the tribe was washing their sweet potatoes before eating them. But that's not all. The most surprising thing observed by the scientists was that the habit of washing sweet potatoes somehow jumped overseas. Soon colonies of monkeys on other islands, and the mainland troop of monkeys at Takasakiyama were also washing their sweet potatoes!
Although the exact number may vary, the "Hundredth Monkey Phenomenon" means that when a limited group has a certain realization, it remains the conscious property of that few. But, at a certain point of "critical mass", when just one more mind tunes-in to the new idea, the field is exponentially strengthened, and the awareness is picked up by almost everyone.

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world." -Mahatma Ghandi

change of plans

Right. Well, I found out this weekend that it's not as affordable for my family to send me abroad as I thought. And my dad realized (for the millionth time) that I only need three more classes to graduate. So I'm not going to Ireland next year. I'll be in Columbia, graduate in December, and hopefully move to Germany for the remainder of the year and be able to travel around.

I'm kinda bummed right now. Yesterday I was excited about it. Either way, it takes a lot of stress out of the next month. Only problem is I need a place to live. So if you know anyone who's got something small from August to December, hook me up, please? I think I could live in Preston as long as I tell them by Friday, but I'd really like my own space that I can kick everyone else out of.
No, I'm really really bummed out about this. I've been planning for Ireland for the last two years! Dad keeps saying it's feasible, we can totally make this happen, I can go, but it really is a pain to do it. There's tons of paperwork and I'd be afraid things wouldn't come back for graduation... I know that I'm making the right decision, but...

I started running away from all these unknowns where I couldn't make decisions because I was waiting on someone else to make them for me, and now I have to make tons of big decisions ultra fast and not when everyone else is making similar ones... ::pout::

So, things are really moving on the trip to Africa. We've applied for visas. I'm getting the paperwork for the course finished this week. I've asked to have the last 3o hours rule waved, and it's been approved by several important people. Good things.
I got an email the yesterday from Limerick, too. I haven't officially been accepted, but it looks good. Any thing's better than nothing.

I guess I've been feeling like this blog should be a space for my travel plans only, but I guess that's unrealistic. Once I'm in Ireland there won't be much to say. Maybe it's time to start really blogging. So... here goes?

First, welcome to my friends from Columbia Quaker meeting... if you're out there...
One of the things I've been struggling with in general but particularly in the last few weeks has been the concept of idealism. My friend David is a self-defined pragmatist, and while he shares a lot of my core values, doesn't share my vision of what the world ought to be by the time we leave it. He's a "small government libertarian." He believes in the American Dream. He doesn't understand my persistent hope that socialism could work. He doesn't care to wonder if people are inherently good.
I used to think I was brave for believing in things others thought impossible. Now I wonder if I'm not just hiding behind that facade. I admit it. I am incapable of living out the life I'd hope for. Or maybe I'm just unwilling to live it. Are my trips to Africa and Mexico, my work in community service, my talk of social justice really nothing more than overcompensation?
David and I ask different questions, I guess. But, all the same, I realize that I have a need for that idealistic vision. Maybe this is why going to Meeting has been such a comfort to me. A lot of churches talk a big game about how we ought to act, but they're so afraid of politics (and, I think, justly so) that they don't actually take action as a group. Meeting is a place where we share information about political rallies, peace walks, and attempts to take humanitarian aid to Cuba. What is it about that space that is different? What allows for that idealism? Or rather, what necessitates it?

I'm still processing the events at Virginia Tech this week. I'd like to write about it, but I'm not ready. Maybe a little later?
Tired now...