The Here

Limited. We are limited. Space (in a non-scientific, infinite galaxy type way) is limited. If we are fortunate, we each have our own little boxes that we take up each night, walls that we store items collected/given over the years, rooms that we decorate in such a way as to show to whoever graces our doorstep who we want ourselves to be. Space, in this way, is moldable. It bends to our wishes and desires. It offers us a place in which we can more actively and more comfortably experiment with becoming the people that we would most like to be.

Growing up, I was always dying to have my own room. I shared a small room with two wonderful sisters, and although I loved them, there was this part of me that desired my own safe space, a space that could become me. Thanks to a father who had the gift of carpentry, my wish came true. He added onto our house, giving us an extra bedroom. Being the oldest, I was given the room as my own space. I was ecstatic. I kept drawing out ideas, dreaming, and when I moved in, the room went through several different layouts, changes, transitions... all following my development as a young adult growing up. It was the same small space, same walls, same closet, but somehow that space was able to grow with me. And in this way, I discovered how space is both limited and infinite. This lesson has fostered a growth in the way I approach the world around me, and I have found great fulfillment in a lot of what I have accomplished as a result of realizing the limits and infinite possibilities of this world.

The world around us is just as undefined as my bedroom. The world is what we make it. I have gone through the lows and highs. I have laughed at the beauty of trees swaying in the wind and screamed into blue skies frustrations at what little I could change, losing sight of the lesson that I had learned. Forgetting that space itself was not what needed to be changed. Our world is only defined when we allow it to be, meaning is applied, not indisputable. When we realize this, possibilities pop up in unexpected places. A brick building becomes more than just a school, it becomes the birthplace of relationships and a dialogue between different generational gaps. A piece of paper becomes more than just a grade, it becomes a blank space for the student to explore concepts and ideas. A house becomes a home. A computer becomes a place of self-exploration and self-building.

Just as my bedroom, the brick building, the paper, and the computer are all spaces, so is the world as a whole. This world that we are given to live in has not been defined definitively. This world is what you make it, and what you make it can have a huge impact on others who live in this same space. As soon as we see a world that we can't affect, we have defined it, and have done so in such a way that cuts ourselves out of the picture. I challenge my fellow earth-mates to redefine the world. Challenge tradition, culture, fashion, values. Re-invent, re-imagine. When we find the confidence to define our world, we will find tradition, culture, fashion, and values valued again. They will no longer feel like cold, separate entities that control us. We will find that they are tools, tools that can help us as individuals build a better world. They will become our paint, our curtains, our decorations. We will not find a world full of crazy careless youth, we will find a world full of love, a world in which the division between young and old is not so wide, a world in which anything is possible.

We don't have to allow this world to be a cold, unfeeling, immovable place. Despite many outlets efforts to speak to the contrary, we can choose to see all of the good, and see all of the love, and when we are willing to fight for this view, can you imagine what the world could look like? When we see not terrorists, but terribly hurt individuals, when we see not only dollar signs, but service and growth, when we are able to see the love through the hate and cold, can you imagine what a wonderful world it could be? This is the world that I live in, the world I have defined, the world that I see. And this can be your world, you need only to define it as such. Go forth and find love, give love, swim in love, and together we will see a shift so beautiful, so full of life, that we will scarcely be able to comprehend the beauty. Go forth and love. I challenge you.