So I had this weird idea tonight while sitting in my room doing some self reflection; start a blog. Usually I shy away from being vulnerable like this, especially with my aspirations to one day be a prominent politician. However, one thing I have always said to people that question why I of all people would want to go into a corrupt line of work. Even more importantly they wonder how I plan to keep myself separate from this, how I plan to resist the temptations and power that so easily flows through the spaces between my fingers. To answer I say two things: I have the guidance of good friends and God in my life, and I will be completely honest with people, and entirely real. The problem with politicians and people now is we constantly want to be something else, and hide who we truly are. We lie and lie to others and ourselves, and constantly push aside the our real selves. Emotions, feelings, and deep thoughts are taboo in modern America, and sticking to our gut beliefs is something we struggle with every day. I myself struggle with this day in and day out. I constantly filter my thoughts (not always a bad thing) to how public opinion may react to me. I guess you could say that perfectly aligned with the thinking of a politician. The truth of this is though that we often over extend our walls and barriers, and never allow for them to come down. Sometimes instead of taking a bit of a risk that could turn out in my favor, I'll sit back and let the opportunity pass.
I'm currently reading a book right now titled A Million Miles In A Thousand Years by Donald Miller. The entire book is written as a first person memoir of Don's reflections on life, and the building of a better story. You see, you and I both are essentially living a story. We are an entire book in progress. I don't know about you, but I hate reading boring book, especially some of the classics I read in school. Well that's how we should see our lives! I challenge you to reflect on yourself, the choices you make, and the path you're on. Look at your life and tell yourself honestly what it looks like. I look at my life and I see so much wasted time. My story is consumed with me spending hours on video games, and other things that don't matter. I see someone who is told he is going places and has so much potential wasting time with trivial and pointless activities. Instead of taking advantage of the millions of opportunities afforded to me, I chose to sleep in or stay where I am comfortable. Not only is this not what God wants me to do, its what I don't want me to do. Sometimes I say to myself that I'm just waiting for an opportunity to present itself, waiting for God to give me a sign that its time to move; but if I never open my eyes and look at all the signs how am I ever suppose to see them. You may also be this same way, I have no doubt in my mind that you, somewhere inside, want to do something more with your life. You want to make a difference, and be someone that initiates the change in other persons life. We see these kinds of things all the time in movies, and I know I always wonder how I can be like that guy. One of my favorite movies of all time is Seven Pounds. If you haven't seen it you're missing out. Essentially it is the story of a man who, after killing seven people in a car crash sacrifices his life and entire body to save the life of seven strangers. You cannot not love him and feel a ton of respect for him after watching the movie. This is the exact type of respect I want people to give to me. Respect like this is earned, not by the actions, but by the person and his or her character. That character must strive to make a difference in others lives, must be consumed with good intentions, and must take advantage of opportunities that are presented before them.
In the past two years, I have taken advantage of three big opportunities. all of these things have helped me tremendously with scholarship applications, college admissions, and most importantly making my story better. Before I tell you about the first opportunity, I need to preface you with some background information on myself. During the beginning of my sophomore year of high school, my parents split, and my dad moved out of the house. I was one of those kids that had the absolute best family. My Grandparents always spoiled my brother and I, I had cousins my age that lived in the same town as me, and I had parents who loved each other and my brother and I with their whole hearts. So although I knew my parents were going through a very rough patch in their marriage, I never thought anything like this would be real. I immediately was filled with hurt and abandonment, and the walls and barrier went shooting up. I was overcome with rage towards my dad for leaving, and vowed not to talk with him. For the next month an a half, I ignored most of his phone calls, and spoke to him only a handful of times. He tried to mend things with me many times, coming to my soccer games, trying to have a sit down conversation at my grandparents. All of these were meant with a cold shoulder. Things eventually got a little better, then my mom received the divorce papers about exactly a year from the split; and we went crashing downhill again. This time I thought I wasn't going to get back up, that I was done with that man all together. That was until I got a voice mail from him one November night. He told me that he knows I am mad at him and won't talk to him, but that he has a huge opportunity for me involving volunteering with an Alderman Mitts re-election campaign in Chicago. He said that he doesn't care if I still don't want to talk to him, but that I should do this, that it would help be get started in politics. Donald Miller calls this an 'Inciting Incident' in his book. As he defines it, and inciting incident is something that happens that makes a character unable to resist change, and throws them into the story they should be living. So intrigued but still angry, I called him back and told him I would do it. He drove me to meet with a guy named Lui, one of the Alderman's coordinators. It turns out, my dad worked with Lui, and had randomly remembered that Lui worked in politics. I give credit to God for putting this thought into my Dads head, because this opportunity is what saved our relationship. The next time I went to Chicago I took the train; the first time I had ever done so myself. After spending the entire day with Lui and the group, I took the 11:20 pm train home where my dad picked me up from the train station and drove me to my car. Before going into my car, I sat there with my dad and talked. I knew God was making my heart heavy with the conviction of forgiving my dad, and I knew I was ready. We sat there for a good thirty minutes hugging and crying, tell each other that we loved one another, and that we were sorry. My dad and I are both extremely stubborn people, so getting so vulnerable like that was extremely tough for the both of us. I will tell you though, I have never felt more relieved and healed as I did in that moment. And that moment would have never come had I not taken advantage of the opportunity presented before me.
Working with Alderman Mitts, Lui, and all the other campaign volunteers was certainly and eye opening and purging experience. In the 37th ward I was a minority. On the staff of the re-election campaign, I was a minority. Not only was I a sheltered suburban boy, I was a prejudice white boy that stereotyped blacks, Puerto Ricans, and poor people. In the coming months, however, I changed my views of these brothers and sisters so much that my political ideology and life shifted in their track. Experiencing culture hands on is ten times more enlightening than reading about it in school; and an eternity more real. Lui treated me as if I were family. And during my time with them, I accepted them as my family. While the true political aspect of this experience was enriching and beneficial, the connections I made, relationships I built, and experiences I lived, polished my character. So after the elections, and the victory parties for Emma, when it came time for me to ask her to right me a letter of recommendation, she had no problem writing about my qualities and personality.
Well I think this entirely too long for my first blog entry, so I will continue at a later date. For now, I bid you farewell and good night.
