For those of you who haven't seen the short CNN video on Narayanan Krishnan, I recommend you take a couple of minutes to check it out. I love seeing things like this and I'm not too 'manly' to admit it brought tears to my eyes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiC_9RHTvsA
Not able to embed the video but copy and paste the link. It's worth a look. :)
On a messageboard that I post on frequently, someone posted this video and a friend of mine made a couple of comments that basically said 'Don't just talk about it, do something about it' and 'Too many people talk about how horrible this and that is, but do nothing about it. All Talk'. I gave him a little bit of crap about it and he commented back to me that I am a 'doer', so he wasn't referring to me as part of the 'all talk, no action' crowd.
Assuming that there was no sarcasm, I was flattered. It did, however, make me think about what I've been doing over the past few months. I am happy to be taking classes right now, to be learning, reading, and writing and of course as I've mentioned before, I'm happy about my new job. I'm excited to be doing work that I feel helps people out, to be in a nonprofit environment and to be learning things I think will be useful in the future. I have struggled with some things over the past few months though. When I was working at my previous job and even at my new job, I still feel like I could be doing a lot more with my time and that with all my talk, all my concerns, frustration and far too often, anger, there's a lot more I could be doing with my time. I often think of things that I'd like to do or hear friends make suggestions that I get excited about and interested in but the important thing is to actually make them happen.
Using time effectively is something I feel I struggle with and I'm working on changing that. Some of the material I've been reading for my Management Development class has been very interesting and eye opening and focuses a lot of using time effectively, learning the difference between urgent and important, etc. I highly recommend Stephen Covey books, pretty interesting stuff. One of my favorite quotes is 'Be great in act as you have in thought'(Shakespeare I believe) and I try to keep that in mind as often as possible. Day dreaming, imaginative idealism produces some (in my mind at least) great ideas and goals but they mean very little without any action.
Anyways, back to the topic at hand. An opportunity recently presented itself at a nonprofit called 'My Play Date', which is where Hanna currently works. It's basically an organization that works with kids who have developmental disabilities. From what Hanna has told me, a lot of the kids have varying levels of autism and aspergers. She really seems to enjoy her work there and always has interesting stories about her day when she comes home. She told me that they are looking for some extra help, preferably males. I thought about it for a bit and while I do enjoy the free time that my part time job affords me, I decided to apply and see if I could work some extra hours during the week. I filled out an application, had an interview and this Friday I'm going in for an observation. With my current work schedule and school work load, I told them I could only really work about ten hours a week, which they are fine with. If things go well, I'll be starting that next week, working a couple hours here and there in the afternoons. I've had almost no experience working with disabled children, mentally or physically, so I think this will be interesting and challenging. The pay is not much and while a few extra bucks is never a bad thing, I'm doing it for the experience and to learn something new. Obviously because we are moving to NYC this summer, it will be short term but I figure it's worth it.
Even though I've struggled with my idealism and optimism in the recent past, I feel it has made quite a comeback and I've realized that I need to work in fields where I'm helping people, where I'm doing something to make the community or the world, a better place. I like money, benefits and stability/security, sure who doesnt? It's not what motivates me though. I'm all about the experience and I want to experience new and interesting things, while helping others. My recent reflections and realizations have helped me select what my concentration will be as a graduate student, Human Rights and Humanitarian Assistance. :)
I'm sure many others have felt the same way but when something terrible happens around the world, whether it be a tsunami, an earthquake or genocide, I feel helpless to do anything. Sure we can make donations and I'm sure that often money raised during and after disasters helps a lot of people out but it's hard to be trustworthy about where your money is going and it just doesn't feel like it's helping that much. I've had a strong interest in human rights and genocide prevention ever since I read Samantha Power's 'A Problem From Hell' as an undergrad and I feel that this is a field in which I could learn a lot, experience a lot, and hopefully help a lot of people. I figure with that as my focus at NYU, and some smart networking, volunteering and taking any sort of related job opportunites in these fields, I could work towards some great career opportunities.
I have more to write about but delicious home made Korean food courtesy of the girlfriend awaits!
