Frodo: Come on, Sam. Remember what Bilbo used to say: "It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to."
Right now I'm in Sam's position-today is equal to the longest time I've ever spent away from home. When I realized this my first thought was that it wasn't a big deal. I mean I'm 19, cmon, it's time I get out on my own. However today wasn't a typical day and I took a little time to really reflect what I'm doing with my life.
Yesterday I walked by a person asking for a donation to a cause of some kind-I didn't stop to look. I just did what I always do-I take a glance and then look away and avoid eye contact praying that the person doesn't speak up and say "would you like to donate to (blank)?" I walked on but realized I didn't feel the familiar guilt of feeling selfish. I'm ashamed to say my life has been very self centered. My goals in life have been for the most part always very extroverted-focused primarily on money and possessions. For example I've prided myself on how much money I make and what I have-"I have an iPhone" and "I have a Mac" and "I just bought a bunch of new clothes." Becoming a Roadie with Invisible Children has changed all that. My goals are now introverted-helping others, thinking of other before myself. Everything from just living with 62 people to ending the longest running war has made me change my goals.
"People with introverted goals are happier than those with extroverted goals" was what was said tonight in a training. And you know what-it's true. I'm so much happier-I can look at the person asking for my donation and instead of saying to myself "I wanna spend that money on me" I say to myself "I don't have any money to spend because I'm giving away 4 months of my life to ending this war." I get so much happiness about only being able to spend $60 a week on food when before I was only somewhat happy spending $150 on new clothes on impulse.
This brings me back to good old Samwise Gamgee and the Shire. This is the longest I've been away from home and I'm so happy for this experience. I've only been away for 8 days but I've learned in those few days what I could not in my previous years of spending money to be happy.
I do miss home already but I'm happy to sacrifice another 4 months in eager anticipation of what lessons I will learn.
Location:San Diego, CA
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