Wouldn’t we be lucky if we could look at the world through a child’s eyes? These past few days have taught me a few things, one of them is to hold on to my childhood dreams and run with them NOW, and make them WOW.
This week I have had the pleasure of meeting five new people in Crete. Each of these five people has made an impact on my trip in a way that I didn’t know would happen. I can honestly say that I am looking at life differently today then I was on Sunday.
This week we learned about the Power of Living, the Power of Giving, the Power of Wow, and the Power of Now. It was a combination of all of these life lessons, the twenty-seven other students who have completely and utterly opened up to each other, and these five new people, that opened my eyes to the things that really matter.
Each day we did different activities to help us look at life and really evaluate why we are living and what our purpose is for the short time we have on earth. We worked on our Dash Project, or as Dr. Siegel would call it, the Hyphen Project, where we wrote two-hundred words on what we would want to do with the time between the day we were born and the day we will die. We wrote out our Bucket Lists. And today we each chose one word to describe “What matters now” and then wrote two-hundred words on why that single word means the world to us now.
As for the five people I met in Crete, my own little version of Mitch Alboms’ The Five People You Meet in Heaven, each of them taught me a different lesson that I will take with me from today forward.
Dr. Betty Siegel taught me many things, but there are three specific things I want to share. The first is that life should be intentional. No matter what you do or how you do it you should always have intention in every single action. Make things count because you don’t want to look back and ask yourself why you wasted that precious time in the “hyphen of life” on an action that wasn’t intentional. The second point she made was about the book Remembrance Rock by Carl Sandburg. The book basically says to make it a point in your life to ask three questions to remember your purpose. Those there questions are: Who am I? Where do I come from? Where am I going? When ever I get lost or forget why we I am here on this earth I will always ask myself those three simple questions, think of Dr. Siegel, and remember the lessons she taught me. The third lesson she taught me (but definitely not the last) was that everyone is a teacher. We are all teachers even if we don’t have the title. Look around the world and think about all of the people who have taught you something about life and you will realize that everyone you have ever come into contact with taught you something.
Jack Toma is the six-year-old sun (because he truly lights up the room) of Professor Doug Toma. Jack is absolutely incredible. He is, as Dr. Siegel said, not only smart, but intelligent. When you ask Jack a question he tends to pause before he gives an answer; his six-year-old mind works together answers that many twenty-year-olds wouldn’t be able to come up with. The lesson that Jack taught me is that you should look at life for the fun possibilities that it has. While he’s only been in Crete for five days he has already managed to find all of the arcades, water parks, and even McDonalds on the island. I had the pleasure of playing mini golf with him yesterday and he got FIVE hole-in-ones. He’s working on becoming the next Tiger Woods (pre-drama of course). Jack and I spent the entire afternoon together having an adventure and it was truly amazing to watch him as he saw everything, and I mean everything as something new. Things excited him that I would usually take for granted or in some cases not even notice. He showed me that kids see everything and that as we grow up we tend to get “selective sight” only really looking at the things we think are important. I plan on holding on to my childhood dreams, and looking at things from Jack’s perspective as much as I can.
Jack’s dad, Doug Toma, taught me that every person is the stories they have. Today Doug told us his life story. He went to college, ended up being a lawyer, and then was courageous enough to go back to school to become a professor because that was his passion. Doug not only shared the story of his life with us so that we could get to know him better, but he also shared a part of himself with us. There aren’t many people in the world who have had the opportunity to go back on their original decisions and change them to do something with their life that they are really passionate about, but Doug was able to do that. He showed me how special being happy with the job you choose is and because of him I now know that I won’t settle until I am 100% happy with what I am doing in life.
Joel Siegel, Betty’s husband, is also an extraordinary person. The one thing he said that matters most now is “what?” He said it’s the constant questioning of our selves, our lives, and our world. It’s not about the answer, but about the question and the journey that gets you to the answer. Everything is a work in progress; nothing is ever complete because we have to always question what’s next.
The fifth person I met this week is Garrett Gravesen. Garrett is one of the program directors of Global Lead. One of the many things I have learned from Garrett is how to be humble. Garrett seems like your average twenty-something guy, full of life, looking for love, and enjoying his time in Greece. But, in reality he is more than what you might see on the surface. Garrett not only helped co-found Global Lead, but he also started UGA Hero. He is a perfect example of live then give, and he has truly dedicated his life to service and to helping other people see what it truly means to live and to serve.
The Five People I Met in Crete, the twenty-nine people I met before Crete, and the other people who I have yet to meet, have become my teachers, peers, and most importantly my friends. It’s truly awesome, in every sense of the word, how many things I have learned so far. Together we have pushed limits, laughed, and even cried. We have served, we have listened, and we have taught. I think it’s safe to say that now, more than ever, Global LEAD Greece is living in the now and holding on to our childhood dreams.
Meredith Broudy
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