A miner’s job is to search through mines with the purpose of finding. In order to find new gems the miner must explore new areas or locations within the mine, traveling the unknown. Now imagine a miner who spends his whole life searching through the same area of the mine; reasonably he will never find anything new due to that he’s traveling the same path over and over. Stepping away from the miner and gem mines, I want to speak about the importance of trying new things. Throughout my whole life I’ve been the kind of person who likes to stay in her comfort zone; let’s just say I don’t like to travel the unknown. As well as the miner, I found myself doing and trying the same things over and over. I refused to try anything new, because that meant losing control of what could happen. Two months ago when I got the news that the 10th grade class was having a trip to Lunahuana, I couldn’t have been less exited about the trip. In fact I was completely against going to that trip. Camping wasn’t something I was familiarized with, so that would mean stepping out of my comfort zone; plus I wasn’t fascinated by the idea of having to sleep in a tent or cooking my own food. Never the less, now that the trip is over I can honestly look back and say that I had an amazing time and I don’t regret for a second going. You see naturally as human beings, we don’t like what we don’t know. Of course it’s hard to try new things, it’s hard to let go of what we know and delve into the unknown; but after all, that’s what life is all about. Isn’t life about taking chances and opportunities? Accepting the fact that sometimes we’ll fail just as well as sometimes we’ll succeed? Isn’t life all about learning to cope with that uncertainty inside us, and confront the unknown?
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The first thing that comes to my mind when I hear the word freedom is slavery. I think about all those people who were deprived from their freedom, and forced to serve someone else. So if you asked me a month ago if I believed I was free, the answer would have been yes. Never the less, if you ask me now, the answer would have been completely different. Within a Peruvian culture, I’ve been raised to believe that the boundaries that society puts us are unbreakable. I’ve always been told what I should do and what I shouldn’t, to the point that my soft wired brain has been molded to fit society’s boundaries. For example, little boys are raised with the stereotype that boys should be strong and tough. Even years later, boys grow with this mindset that deprives them from crying or showing their feelings. So this brings me to the question; how does the culture and environment we live in mold our brain and the way we think? Am I a slave of society? I kept on thinking about this topic, and came across habits and phobias. Can we control them? No. But can we gradually defeat them? Yes. Some people have the bad habit of biting their nails when they get nervous, they aren’t aware when they are doing it, and aren’t in control of it; but their brain is. On the other hand, I have a tremendous fear that could be considered a phobia, a fear of shots. Everytime I have to get a shot, I get very anxious, I start thinking about how much it will hurt me, and I loose control of my mind. Can I control this fear? No. Am I a slave of my fears and habits? Finally I came to the conclusion that neither the brain controls us nor we control the brain. Naturally, the brain will take control when we are not capable of dealing with what we are confronted to. Never the less, we can learn to control the brain, we can learn to control what we feel, what we want, and what we fear, etc. Freedom begins when we stop seeking for other’s approval, and become insensitive to the boundaries set by society.
Every Saturday, or at least almost every Saturday of the month, I start my day by visiting the Cayetano Heredia hospital with the community and service club. I love visiting the hospital, it makes me feel like I’m doing something productive with my life, like I’m sharing a bit of my joy with people who need it the most at the moment. This Saturday, I came to the hospital expecting to help people, but actually I was the one who ended up learning something from them. When I came in this Saturday, I met a little girl called Alexandra. She was suffering from a disease which I didn’t even dare to ask about, but I knew it was serious because she couldn’t even sit down, and her mother wouldn’t stop talking about a surgery she was about to have. I started talking to her mom, a tall big women who seemed to have a permanent smile. She told me about how she had to leave the rest of the family and her job to come to Lima so Alexandra could get proper medical care. She explained how she was hoping that everything would go all right in the surgery, because they were having financial trouble, and couldn’t afford more treatments. I instantly felt sorry for her, I tried to imagine how hard it would be to leave everything behind and struggle to find a medical institution that would take your 10-year-old daughter who is suffering from an unknown disease. It seemed like hell to me; but she managed to look at her life from a completely different angle. She spoke to me as if everything that her family was going through at this time, was a miracle instead of a nightmare. She certified me that she was thankful for finding a medical institution where her daughter could stay, thankful for the possibility of her daughter getting better, and thankful for every moment she spent with her daughter, even if it were to be the last one. I truly was fascinated with this women’s ability to look at things in a positive way. This reminded me of how I’ve been taking things in my daily life for granted; we tend to think that things like being healthy, or having a good economic situation are rights we are all born with, when actually there are people in our country who are struggling with both, and are still thankful for the little they have. After a morning full of joy and laughs I left the hospital with something I didn’t possess when I woke up this morning, the ability to appreciate everything I have. I find it amazing how people who have so little and are suffering so much, can be so thankful with what they have, and even be willing to help someone who has basically everything. I entered the hospital hoping to help people who were going through rough times, but actually they were the ones who ended up helping me.
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AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
June 2015
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