The Best Thing You Can Ever Give

She takes a deep breath. In through the nose, out through the mouth. Her heart is pounding at a rate so fast it feels like it’s going to burst out of her chest. I stand there, biting my lip, fists gripped; hoping, praying everything goes as planned. She takes a deep breath in… This is her moment. One more breath out, she finally speaks, “I read my story.” 50 kids erupt with excitement! Jumping up and down chanting her name, “Yass-mine! Yass-mine! Yass-mine!” She did it. Her excitement and her satisfaction was fueled by that of her classmates and her competitors.

This was the scene during yesterday’s Vocabulary Competition. Such a simple sentence, such an electric reaction! I’ve never felt anything like it; not when we beat Aspen, not when Navy beat Yale in the NCAA Men’s Lacrosse tournament, not even when the BMHS soccer team won state in 2012.

Within the Nichols family, if a TV was on it was almost always a sport. Sports Center, lacrosse, hockey football, hell even golf. When the home was empty you could almost guarantee we were either, skiing, playing lacrosse, surfing, or just about any other sport. Sports are my family’s passion, it’s the glue that keeps us all together. I’ve always said the best way to end a fight with the Nichols brothers is to go outside and play football, frisbee, bike, skateboard; you name it we will do it. I can’t imagine how different my life would if we didn’t have that passion for sports.

In the United States our passion and our energy is nearly entirely focused on athletics. It’s not a bad thing, don’t get me wrong I love watching the Denver Broncos win a Super Bowl. I’m eternally grateful for the relationships that have been formed through athletics. 

But here I am, college bound and the focus of my life isn’t on sports.

Here in Rabat, Morocco that energy that fixation, is centered entirely around education rather than sports. It’s gratifying to see someone celebrate the victory of a vocab competition with the same emotion and enthusiasm that Von Miller had when he sacked Cam Newton for a touchdown in Super bowl 50 (#gobroncos). It’s a foreign idea to think that someone would think this way about education, yet this is so common among Moroccan families.

For these students, passing the Baccalaureate exam is the equivalent to the NFL combine. Every year hundreds of athletes go in an attempt to display their talents. Their entire lives they have been committed to this moment. Every stride, every rep, every film session, every ounce of effort was dedicated to this moment. A moment of greatness.

The ability to achieve greatness in Morocco is tested by the Baccalaureate exam. Knowing English can be the key between failure and success. Every word they write, every book they read, every “t” they cross is dedicated to this test. This level of passion has no doubt been displayed in my classroom every day for the past two weeks. Even when they were going on only a few hours of sleep and empty stomachs, their minds were entirely focused on what they were learning in that moment. Each lesson was like a play aimed towards winning a game. Except this game was life. Everything I threw at them they analyzed and attacked with every ounce of energy and focus in their little bodies. And of course when they got it, when they nailed it, when it all went perfectly, they celebrate. They celebrated with more energy than I have ever seen any student-athlete celebrate with before. Including the 1987 Miami Hurricanes.

These students have completely changed the term, Student-Athlete.

A student-athlete is not someone who goes to class for 7 hours a day only itching to get out to hit someone. A student-athlete is an individual who comes to class ready to give the perfect effort. A student who embraces every minute of class, values their teachers, and their opportunities they have been given. We should be having banquets for our teachers, praising them for their hard work, dedication, and accountability. But instead we walk out the front door flipping off the very institution that gave us the greatest gift of all time. The gift of education. When we were leaving the school, 12 year old Halima, with a tear rolling down her eye, handed me a hand-written letter. In that letter she said, “Thank you for your help and efforts to teach us. You have given us the gift of learning.” I quickly read the letter, looked up at her gave her a hug and she said, “That is the best thing you can ever give.”

Make Up YOUR Mind

Ah, April 1^st; the only day of the year that people critically evaluate what is being told to them by the media before accepting them as true.

The media is a business and much like every  business it has a foundation of what sells. Unfortunately that foundation is fear. Fear sells. In the experienced words of Seth Morrison, people love to be scared. There is this concept of near-death riding that has become the basis for what is acceptable. If you’re not inches away from death, it’s not going to make the movie (The Ordinary Skier).

Sadly that conception of ‘fear sells’ is reflected in nearly every aspect of American media.

Don’t believe me?

I strongly encourage you to read an article that CNN posted titled, “Why They Hate Us” written by Fareed Zakaria. In the article Fareed writes, “Let’s be clear, while the Jihadis are few, there is a larger cancer in the world of Islam – a cancer of backwardness and extremism and intolerance." Well, I don’t know exactly which “world” Fareed is referring to, but here in the Islamic “world” of Morocco I have not found that to be the case.

Just yesterday, we went to a girl named Ghita’s house. Ghita is one of my students, she is smart, witty, and never late to class. While Ghita’s mom was attending to some unannounced guests, we had the chance to sit down with the small, but chatty aspiring agricultural engineer. She sat upright,  legs crossed; discretely critiquing her hijab, assuring herself that she looked presentable, while she waited eagerly to answer every question. After answering a few questions about her own life and her life at home, Ghita showed us an in-depth understanding about the importance of family that most girls her age would not comprehend. But it wasn’t until we started to talk about religion that Ghita showed us that she had wisdom and maturity far beyond her years.

With Ramadan literally right around the corner,  we asked Ghita what her favorite part of Ramadan is. Without hesitating she replied, “My favorite part of Ramadan is the unity. This is a month where every Muslim is equal. We all eat like the poor (fasting); we give like we are rich, and we pray more than ever before. It is in this month where we all experience true peace and tranquility.” Inspired by this profound answer from this basic question we eagerly asked another, “As a Muslim, if you could give everyone in the world advice, what would it be?” She sat back, thought about it for no more than two seconds, then leaned forward to answer. Although I don’t speak nearly any Arabic, just by looking at the way she talked about it was not only inspiring but assuring. She spoke with passion and confidence in a way that when you looked into her eyes you truly believed she was thinking about the greater good of everyone in the entire world. Once she finished I eagerly awaited to the translation from our translator Icabel. But once she stopped speaking, Icabel had to take a second to herself because she was getting chills from Ghita’s answer. Icabel translated saying, “She would tell the world to stop judging. She thinks that everyone thinks they are better than one another, trying to critique and change them. We have forgotten that we are all human, we are all the same. We do not have that right to judge others on the way we view our life. Only God has the right to judge. It is our job as humans to unite together so that before god judges us all, we can live in peace.” Wow, I too had chills running down my back. But it wasn’t the type of chills that would spark a revolution. These were different. They were the chills that provided me with assurance and a new faith in humanity. But they were also chills of guilt and disgust.

After leaving Ghita’s house I kept thinking about this quote said by the great Muhammad Ali. He said, “We as Muslims have to stand up to those who use Islam to advance their own personal agenda. They have alienated many from learning about Islam.” While that may be true, we as Americans have alienated ourselves from a beautiful and powerful group of people that brings peace and tranquility. We are blinded by our fear that was created by our ignorance.

I challenge you, tell me which world has, “a cancer of backwardness” of extremism and intolerance?

Is it a “world” in which Donald Trump is president? Or is it a “world” whose leader said, “We continue to receive refugees at a rapid pace, whether they come from East Africa or the Middle East. Our only concern beyond the humanitarian aspects to which we obviously sensitive, is purely securitarian.”

Stop listening to the reports about the one percent of Muslisms who are extremists. Stop listening to lies. Start listening to those who put the humanity of the world before their own safety. Start listening to the Muslims, because we have a lot to learn.

Education

What has become of us? What are we turning into?

We have let our arrogance and our ignorance overcome us completely. We live in a world where the pride of our parents has become more important than their child’s true potential. We live in a world where students honestly believe that a letter is more important than their honesty and hard work. Students would rather tell their parents, “Well it’s not my fault! She doesn’t teach us anything!” Rather than be honest, admit their wrongs, and ask for hard work. It’s pathetic, but can you blame them? Students listen to their parents, who would rather brag about a near perfect grade point average rather than their child’s honest work ethic. It’s this blinding ignorance that has disabled us from understanding what it actually means to learn.

Thankfully, on the other side of the world there is another world that shows us exactly what it means to have the amazing opportunity of education. That other world is called Abdasalam Saya.

Our first day at Abdasalam Saya we met Touria, the education director. “Abdasalam Saya” literally translates to “slave of peace.” Which in my mind is the best way to describe Touria. Touria emphasized how truly hard working and grateful students are at Abdasalam Saya. This was displayed to the “T” during our first day in the classroom. We have been teaching for two days now and in every class, during every hour, and every minute, students treated every word as if it could be their last, hanging on to every last syllable. They seize every education opportunity that is presented before them. They show up to school every day with an ambition to learn like their lives depend on it. Because they do.

Mariam is one of the brightest, hardest working students in my class. She is soft-spoken, diligent, accountable, and at appropriate times she can even be funny. Yesterday we had the opportunity to sit down with Mariam and her humble family inside their home. While there, Mariam’s guardian and older sister admitted that Mariam will sometimes come home from school crying. Crying because she has not understood the lesson that was taught to her class that day. Her sister continued to say that “Every time she cries I have to remind her that ‘we pray for those who teach and for those who want to learn.’” She continued explaining that education is not about being the smartest in your class. She justified it saying, “If education was about the smartest people then we would only have good doctors and engineers, that’s it.” To be a doctor or is an engineer is an amazing thing. But if we want to live in a perfect world we must have great carpenters, great shoe makers, even great factory workers. She continued saying “It doesn’t matter what you do, if you educate yourself you will be great and you will be helping to change the world into a better place.”

Education is not about talent, it is about passion. From carpentry to law school it doesn’t matter what your profession is, what matter is your willingness to learn and achieve success.

What is happening to the American education system is truly unfortunate. Some might even say, “Well, that’s life.” But, in the words of one of our translators Wassyan, “You can’t say ‘that’s life’ because that’s only the life you know. Unless you go and experience another way of life you will live your entire life thinking that there is no way to fix some of the life’s greatest problems.” It is our job to experience all ways of life and apply what we learn to our lives.

We, as a community, as a state, as a country must swallow our pride and take responsibility for our wrong doings that are negatively affecting our education system. We must stop blaming our teachers, our principals, and our education system. We must stop telling students they won’t achieve success if they don’t get a good grade in algebra. We must instead, “pray for those who teach and those who want to learn.” Because those are the people that will change the world. 

IGNITE, INSPIRE, EMPOWER

There are many companies, organizations, and restaurants whose slogans do not hold true to reality. As it turns out, Red Bull does not give you wings, Faction isn’t only for the few, Jimmy Johns won’t actually deliver in seconds, and I can’t even remember the last time I went to Subway and got a five dollar foot long.

With that said, CGA’s slogan, “Ignite, Inspire, and Empower” has unveiled its actuality before my very eyes over these past 4 years.

IGNITE:

4 years ago I set out to Rivas, Nicaragua on my very first trip with CGA. I was among a total of 5 student volunteers who were the very first (students) to volunteer at Escuela Especial. I was challenged like never before, both inside and outside of the classroom so intensely that I had two options: to breakthrough, or breakdown. Thankfully, on one of my tougher days, during a home visit with local Nicaraguan child services, I met Julissa. Julissa is a 22 year old woman with Cerebral Palsy who is so shunned from her abusive family that the only reason she is still (barely) alive is because her family gets a small monthly incentive from child services that is intended for medical attention for Julissa, but is clearly abused by her family as they keep her in a locked, cardboard sealed closed with nothing to entertain her but a plastic bag. Thus, it was at that point in time, a small spark ignited a massive fire of passion inside of me. This passion was the desire to change, to make a difference.

INSPIRE:

That Fire kept burning inside of me for 3 more years as I traveled with CGA to both Cambodia and Tanzania in which I had two remarkably successful trips for both me and the group as a whole. It was at these places that I met people like Mr. Kimaro. Mr. Kimaro is a teacher at a private English primary school, a student of computer and technology at night, and a proud father of three. Mr. Kimaro does not have many tangible things. He struggles to pay bills and feed his family. But despite all that he is one of the most honest, hardworking, and proud men who keeps his core beliefs and values dearly close to him. It is people like Mr. Kimaro that inspire me every day.

EMPOWER:

These past two weeks I have experienced what it truly means to be empowered and to spark empowerment in others. For the first time in 4 years I took the concept of ‘be the change you want to see in the world’ into the classroom as well as during relief work. In the classroom I would observe, adapt, create, and teach with passion, excitement, and enthusiasm. No matter how tired, no matter how hot it was, this feeling of making a change, this feeling of empowerment kept fueling my body to achieve greatness. That is a feeling I will be chasing for the rest of my life.

I’m not exactly sure what I am going to do with my life. But I do know for sure I plan to ‘Ignite, inspire, and empower’ others as CGA did to me.

I plan to be the change I want to see in the world and I encourage you to as well.

A FOUNDATION

What do I desire?

As early as 1^st grade I’ve been told to follow my passion, to shoot for the stars, and to chase my wildest dreams. Thus, when someone would ask me what I wanted to be when I grow up, I would answer something elaborate like, “a professional skateboarder or a professional lacrosse player,” not knowing how unrealistic either of those truly was. My childhood consisted of answering many hypothetical questions about my future. However, not once has anyone ever asked me, “What would you do, if everything came crashing down?”

The people of Nepal have been forced to answer this question. Their homes, loved ones, and memories have all crumbled to the ground. So you would think that under such pressure, stress and loss that they would be so emotionally exhausted to the point that it would reflect negatively in their behavior. No, the people of Nepal continue to thrive and prosper with such vibrant positivity. Day after day, students show up eager to embark on a new day of learning. They come with smiles on their faces, questions ready to be answered, wearing their uniform with pride and greet us with a more than welcoming “Namaste.”

After experiencing this for about 7 days I thought to myself, how could they possibly be so happy?

So I tried to put myself in their shoes. I imagined a scenario in which my whole world came crashing down…

Then I asked myself, “What do I desire?”

The first thing that popped into my head was a home. I continued to ask myself, “Where would I begin?”

The foundation.

Our lives are like homes. The foundation is a mix of our core principles and beliefs; the exterior is our appearance, which only reflects the beauty of our interior. Each room in our home represents a new chapter of our lives, in which we hang memories of the good and even the bad. Of course each house has their own set of cracks, leaks, and creaks. Like it or not, they are each unique and reflect us as individuals.

However, sometimes life can shake our houses so hard that everything will literally come crumbling to the ground. It feels tragic, lonely, and sad, but you must always remember you have your foundation. You will always have your foundation on which you will rebuild your new home that will be filled with rooms full of memories, bathrooms full of regrets, and closets full of cluttered thoughts.

So remember, when it seems like everything is crashing down, look to your foundation and ask yourself….

What do I desire?

PERSPECTIVE

May 12th, 2015 - "At least 1,000 more people died on Tuesday after a major earthquake struck Nepal, triggering landslides, avalanches, and toppling buildings three stories high" (Fox News).

Being on the other side of the world we are really only fed numerous accounts of second-hand information through the media. This is why it’s so difficult for someone, like myself, to put the severity and actuality of the situation into perspective.

Since the first shake I’ve been trying to anticipate and comprehend what I would be walking into, but as time went on and newscasters started to focus on other “TOP STORIES,” my initial thoughts of how severe the earthquakes were and how it would affect the country of Nepal would slowly dissipate into the rest of my newsfeed.  

Today, on June 6^th, at ground zero, I was forced to put everything into perspective. The six of us, speechless, were placed into what looked like a scene from ‘American Sniper.’ A ghost town of abandoned, hundreds of year old buildings that are literally crumbling to pieces as the day goes on.

Even more heartbreaking, in order for residents to obtain money from the government in order to rebuild their home they must do two things: pay all their taxes, and tear down what is left of their humble homes. The physical challenge of tearing down your home is somewhat unbearable, not to mention the emotional and dangerous aspects of it, which is where WE come in.

We set out on a project, simple but ambitious. Our goal was to help, in any way shape or form. And today we found ourselves tearing down a widow’s home. Despite an obvious language barrier, and a whole lot of dust, we tore down two stories of wood, bricks, metals and memories.

With that said, the Nepalese people are not looking for sympathy. They have hope and are among the strongest, bravest, proud, and most beautiful people in the world. The people of Nepal will rebuild, they will grow and if you don’t believe me, you can ask 11 year old Sjyina and she will tell you, “I am proud to be Nepali, and nothing, no matter how big, will never ever tear this beautiful place down.”

I am not exaggerating when I say we were the only people in Durbar Square doing relief work. It is obvious that the people of Nepal desperately need manpower, supplies, and economic support. Please do not leave the people of Nepal behind with the rest of your newsfeed. Even though you are literally on the other side of the world, you can help. The Nepal that exists today is undeniably different, but with our presence, a mere 6 human beings, we’ve already offered a new sense of hope to those we’ve impacted. Great change is possible, but we need YOU.
Here is where things get a little complicated, I can't give you a step by step program on how to help. Right now I have an incredible opportunity to be here in Nepal. So I'm focusing all of my time and effort for the next 9 days to do what I can to help the people of Nepal rebuild. I'm asking YOU to be proactive, be intuitive, get creative, please if you truly want to help the solution will have to come from within you. It is far from easy but if you would truly like to make a change, it is achievable. 

Living On One Dollar

I have a tendency to spend a good portion of my free time on Netflix. Just recently I was browsing and stumbled upon the documentary called “Living On One Dollar," a short film about two college students (Chris and Sean) who travel to rural Guatemala to see for themselves what it’s truly like to live on $1 a day. Here are my thoughts on it:

While watching I was often surprised but what I found most profound was the amount of research and commitment these young men gave to this social experiment. These guys thought of nearly everything, including an organized “random pay day” that would simulate what it’s like to be paid like a day laborer. Not only were they organized, but when they came up with a plan, they executed it with heart and purpose. These guys took an idea and engaged it with full force, not holding back. They were committed 110%, they even made a transition from a lifestyle filled with nearly everything to a lifestyle filled with remotely nothing (materials). And to me, making that transition would be the hardest part, but also maintaining it when having the clear option to opt out for an entire 56 days.

While watching this documentary, I felt that I had similar personal values with the Guatemalans of Pena Blanca. I have to thank CGA for this because over the last two years they brought me that opportunity. Over the last couple of years, I have developed the personal values of a strong and trustworthy community member, a reliable individual, and an individual who gives it all thanks to my service trips to Nicaragua, Cambodia and Tanzania with CGA.

When watching films I tend to tell myself “Oh I could do that” or “psh that would be easy.” However in this instance, I sat down and seriously reflected and thought what it would truly be like if I set out to live life in which every day involved the battle to live on $1. After a long, well thought out fantasy trip in my head I came to a conclusion…. I think I would die.

Let’s get down to the basics. If I were to live in the rural village of Pena Blanca, I would most likely be a day laborer. I would be fueled by a rigorous rice and bean diet that would give me roughly 1600 calories for me to burn through while working hard manual labor for an entire day. Presently, I eat about 10 times that amount in calories and produce about 1/18 of the manual labor that laborers do in Pena Blanca. I’m 6’2” and barely weigh 130 pounds. Plain and simple, I am not cut out to survive that life. If I was put into that lifestyle, I would most likely be taken down by parasites or disease.

After breaking down the reality of that situation, that is “If that was me, I would be dead”, I've come to realize the reason I go on these service trips. Every day I strive to push myself for those who can’t. My drive to do new things comes entirely from the inspiration that someone else simply can’t. 

I plan to use that 'can't' as fuel to take advantage of the life that I live EVERY DAY.