Nicaragua Post 1
If the past year of
school has taught me anything, it’s that a lot of things just don’t make any
sense to me. Like why I have to spend 10 weeks learning about the lifecycle of
a plant when I have absolutely no desire to look at a plant from an academic
viewpoint at any point in my life. And like organic chemistry…I still could
probably not correctly explain what occurs when you throw those stupid chemicals
into a beaker together; I just know that sometimes you accidently spill acid on
your shirt and it makes really neat holes. It also burns like crap, so I
wouldn’t recommend it.
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I don’t think that this
necessarily makes me any less intelligent, (at least that’s
what I’m choosing to
believe…) I think it definitely makes me human, though.
One of the things that
didn’t make sense to me today was why it was cheaper for me take four flights
to get to Nicaragua when Denver flies directly there…. And also why it took
less frequent flyer miles to fly first class compared to flying economy (I am
NOT complaining about this. I just find it asinine that this was the case...)
Anyway, so I’m on my second of four flights today, and I had been sitting next
to this family with three precious kids on their way to Spain to go on a
cruise. I was talking to the mom about Nicaragua and my dream to someday work
as a physician in a third world country. She did the whole “raise the eyebrow
and marvel at what a good person I am
for wanting to do such a noble thing
with my life” response. I personally can’t see it like this, I feel in love
with places like Africa, I’m such a science nerd, and I can’t imagine not doing
what I love for the rest of my life. For me, it’s a much more selfish ambition
than what it may appear to be.
And then that mom said
something I’ve never gotten before.
I just think you really need to pray about what
you’re doing. It’s really dangerous, you know, especially for such a pretty
girl like you. If you were a man, I would say go for it! It’d be a lot safer…But
you’re so pretty and you hear about all these stories from third world
countries…I just think you should pray about staying in America and helping
from here instead of actually going.
Wait. So what I hear you
saying (yeah both of my parents are counselors..) is that because I am a “pretty
girl,” I should just quit pursuing my dream?
I mean of course I’ve
thought about my aspirations being more on the dangerous side. And, yes, of
course it is more dangerous for women than it is for men.
But is that really
reason enough to say no?
I don’t think so.
I think saying no would
pose a much more dangerous situation.
What really didn’t make
sense to me about this interaction was that this woman, who has never been to a
third world country herself, was not only making such rash judgments about the
conditions there, but was actually discouraging me from continuing to pursue
what I love.
I think this is a
problem.
Instead of thinking
about how dangerous it is for us to visit these parts of the world, why aren’t
we thinking about how dangerous life is for the people who live in these
countries? Lack of proper nutrition, the threat of abuse, healthcare
inequality, human trafficking, preventable epidemics—these are all what I
consider to be dangerous issues. And they are the terrifying reality for a
large part of our world. Why aren’t we thinking about how we can make it
better?
I think a lot can be
done for these issues without being onsite. From fundraising, to building
awareness, to partnership—there is nothing wrong with supporting from afar. But
someone has to go. We are all called to help, but we are not all called to go.
I strongly believe this; however, I know that right now, I am called to go, so
I am going to go. I am going to go to the “scary” places. I will take the
proper precautions and do my best to keep myself out of harms way, but
ultimately, I trust that since I am called, He’s got this. I don’t think God
needs me to worry about how safe the places are He’s sending me to. I think He
just needs me to be obedient.
So yeah, Nicaragua has
been incredible thus far. God is going to teach me a lot. I’m SO thankful to my
amazing family for letting me stay with them, and am so thankful I have an
opportunity to do what I love for 6 short weeks. Even if it might seem a little
dangerous :)
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| Just loving life with my beautiful cousin, Hannah (Photo creds to Kari Gibson :) |
Love you guys! Thanks for listening to my scrambled thoughts. Please be
praying for my family in Colorado Springs. They were evacuated from our house
and I haven’t heard anything about how they’re doing.
Lots of #love,
Tay
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