Society. The ebb and flow of a constructed reality. Cogs in a self-perpetuating economic machine of growth and recession. The Modern American Dream. Prejudices and Norms. A projected linear path sold to us, with the promise of success, security, and the numbing of our senses. Telling us what the think, what to feel, and what to believe. First and foremost about ourselves and then in the context of others. A slave to the bureaucracy of hierarchal organization.
This is the world to which I live.
I have always felt like the renegade. The outlier, the outsider, living and experiencing life outside of the box. I have embraced my individuality, and followed the typical American and Christian philosophies of individualism through out my life. Doing what was counterintuitive to societal norms to which I was surrounded. Never with the intention to harm others or myself, but in the essence of exploration and wonder.
We can only play the hand we are dealt.
I can only exist and grow from the surroundings and environment to which I inject myself in. I only have perspective and experience from my own adventures and journeys. As a human being, a being in the linage of Christ, I feel is it my duty and calling to explore. To perpetually grow, and force myself to learn by throwing myself into uncertain situations. To make relationships with people with whom I share a different view or perspective. This is what I did when I joined a Fraternity during my college years. This is something that would have been outside the constraints and social norms of many Christian circles. Immersing myself in a petri dish of everything the Church ‘hates’: sex, drugs, alcohol, promiscuity, lust, greed and intoxication. Getting to know and understand why do people gravitate to these illusions of happiness. Discovering the hidden gold in people, creating joyous memories, and being there when all was lost, was all part of the experience. Having my own battles and tribulations, making mistakes, constantly progressing and surviving.
The life of PostGrad was the stereotypical millennial quarter-life crisis, the search for identity in myself. The hustle and rat-race to become a cog in a machine, getting caught up in the rush to become another brick in the wall. Continuing education became the key for success, as if another paper on the wall would bring fulfillment. The education was priceless, yet the experience of the world it brought with it was worth more then its weight in gold. It was in this, the western American social media driven façade of what life should be, that reality came crashing down around me. Only in my brokenness did I come to the understanding that I could not live in such a candy-coated reality. Living to die, sacrificing your being to the gods of money, comfort, and conformity.
This is my awakening. This is my actualization. This is my decision to follow the call.
The WorldRace is my choice, my decision, given with the blessing of the Father of the Universe. It is His call inside of me, that I can no longer refuse. This is the next experience I must adventure. This is the next step in becoming who I am. This is where the past and future come colliding into the present. I do not know what lies ahead, what adventure, what adversity, what wonder will capture my heart. I do know it will be amazing.
This experience is something I cannot give myself. This is choice I am making, to go where I need to go, to calm that noise in my soul. This is a relationship, between you and me. This is a relationship of wonder, a relationship of awe-inspiring moments, a relationship of stories to share.
This is my plea to you. I cannot do this alone. I will do what I must to maintain this relationship in every way humanly possible, to the best of my ability. This is not just my adventure into the unknown, this is a collective experience. To which my experiences and stories may bring hope, light, and life to my collective community. It does not matter where you may enter, what path you took to get here, or why you choose to follow. What matters is that together, we are one body. My family.
God Bless!
