An Imperfect Offering

Throughout the past six years, I have been a part of the selfless family that is Children's Global Alliance. Growing everyday, the CGA family exhibits an unprecedented amount of love, passion, and global awareness. Year after year they ignite a flame of empowerment to a new generation that will have an everlasting effect. 

As a member of CGA over those six years, I have had the opportunity to talk to hundreds of different people who praise Children’s Global Alliance, what we do, the gratefulness of CGA’s presence in our small valley and what CGA has done for our community. With that said, there are a few people that would say otherwise. I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to speak to the few who stood against what Children's Global Alliance stands for, along with what we do. The more common arguments I came across were, "Well you abandon your community, there is plenty of volunteer work to be done here." Or the, "You're doing more harm than good" in which they support their argument by nearly quoting the article, '10 Reasons Why Your Two Week Service Trip Doesn't Mean Shit' word for word. But no argument stood out to me more than the one I heard last year before traveling to Bhaktapur, Nepal. Excited about my upcoming service trip to Nepal, I was describing what we were going to do to a teacher at my school. I said, "We are going to provide much needed structural relief work and educational aide for those in need. This teacher looked at me dead in the eyes and said, "Do you really think 4 teenagers and two female chaperones are going to make a difference?" The man continued arguing, "You can't change the world, you know." 

Well of course we can't. No one can. The fact of the matter is we live in an imperfect world. It was imperfect before we got here and it will be imperfect long after we are gone. 

Bad things will always happen to good people. Natural disasters will continue to occur. Poverty will always exist. For every deadly disease that we cure, another will spread like a wildfire. The world has been imperfect long before we were here and it will continue to be imperfect long after we are gone. That's just the way it is. 

So what's the point? If the world will always be imperfect then why bother trying to fix it?

That is similar to saying we, as humans know that no one is perfect, therefore, we will never be perfect. So what's the point in working on ourselves? 

We work on ourselves not to be perfect but to be the best versions of ourselves. 

Much like how every sports team knows there is no such thing as the perfect season,  they practice anyway. They put hours and hours of blood, sweat and tears giving everything they have into practice. Not to be perfect, but to be the closest thing to perfection. 

The same holds true with Children's Global Alliance. Much like a team, CGA has its coaches: Lisa-Marie, Karlie, Jen, Krissy, Kristina etc. As well as our players: the student volunteers. Of course we have our opponent: injustice. Similar to the many opponents a sports team faces, injustice comes in many different colors, shapes and forms. Like poverty, abuse, or an inadequate education. Together we work to challenge our opponent. Of course we could not do this by ourselves. Thankfully, our coaches have taught us a few strategies to do so:  

1) Be Selfless 

-To put the wants and needs of others before your own. Whether it's food, water, education, love or baby wipes. 

2) Be Passionate

-To live each day with the energy and liveliness as if it was your last, but with the wisdom as if you are going to live forever. 

3) Love Others Without Fear

-To open your heart to everyone without hesitating about it being broken. 

4) Live In The Moment

-To not let life's smallest and sometimes biggest problems take away from your time here on earth. To put every ounce of energy into what is happening to you, right this second. 

5) Listen To The World

-To open your ears and listen to the cries and worries of the world and act upon them. To not just co-exist but to live together in peace and harmony. 

We give, teach, help, repair, and love those in need not because we honestly think that we are changing the world, but because we know we are making it better.

 It's an imperfect offering to an imperfect world. 

Although it is imperfect, can you imagine a world in which everyday, every single person in the world put all of their energy into attacking the injustices of the world with love, passion and selflessness. 

I can.