Three years ago, me and some friends watched a movie. We've all heard the stories, seen the images of Africa. Seen a place that was wartorn and children with their little stomachs poking out. This film, Invisible Children, touched something in me.
We started doing what we could. In our little corner of the world, we decided we needed change. We decided that it's not just, for children to be taken from their home. For children to live in fear. For children to be hurt, for no apparent reason. For the life in their eyes to be blown out like a candle in a split moment. It's not just, it's not fair. That's not why we were put on this Earth. Our lives should be filling with dancing and shouts of joy, passion, love, hope...no matter what comes our way.
Time has passed, yet there are days when I miss that moment. We did what little we could, we raised money, raised awareness, and sent it out from our speck on the globe. We were doing it. The images of the video have faded, if only a little.
It was the life of those moments. The gatherings of "we're doing this." The sound of cries we heard in our hearts, and the feeling of the tears that we were somehow wiping away with every minute that passed. The dreams we shared were so vivid, and the colors we painted, if only for a moment, were so true.
I miss those moments. It's those stories that make me want to leave medical school and not look back. They make me want to fly off this island, pick up an orphan and just hold her/him/them and love them for the rest of my days. To let my heart beat the rhythm of love. I could do that. I could be surrounded by poverty and hurt and pain, yet still fill the air with love.
I miss the vivid dreaming. I miss the silent whispers sent into the night to those across the world. I miss the feeling of knowing I'm changing the world. Even now, my eyes swell up with the tears that are filled with hopes of things to come. I suppose I'm painting another part of that picture now, but it's the same one. It's the one of change, the one of knowing I can change the world. And I truly believe I can, no matter how crazy it makes me seem. I'm choosing to write a story of love, no matter what the cost. It was during those moments, when I decided I want to give my life for others. I know what that means, and though I'll discover more, though it will hurt like hell, surely it will be worth it.