My Life is My Message

Labor day is this coming Monday and that means a 3-day weekend! It’s been a whirlwind week, and I’m looking forward to debriefing and recharging with some sleep and some fun stuff. 

A podcast I quite enjoy has a habit of opening with some commentary on recent news stories. I appreciate that this often clues me in to important stories that I would otherwise miss. I'm paying the habit forward, and so here are some thematically relevant links before the discussion of Life as Message . 

The theme? Labor.

1) In honor of the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington (and in honor of themselves), people strike across the country, still marching for jobs and freedom. How are we helping them?

2) DC wants large retailers to pay their employees more than minimum wage! Wal Mart threatens to not open any stores in DC at all. The story, here.

Now, onto the rest of the blogging:

Today after school, we went to City Year headquarters in Dupont Circle to pick up some more pieces of our uniform. The highlight of this package? Our red jackets. (The red jackets are the most iconic piece of our uniform- a recognizable symbol of our commitment to the students in our schools, and to national service). Seeing myself in that jacket (in the mirror in the bathroom down the hall) stirred up feelings of pride and responsibility. By accepting the jacket, I was validating and affirming the fact that I am ready to give this year of my life to the boys and girls in my classes, to the city of Washington DC, and to myself as an activist and an empathizer.  

I was a whole ball of emotions.

Feeling the need for some self care, I bough some frozen yogurt and went for a walk. My walk led me to a statue of Mahatma Gandhi on Massachusetts Ave. 

Written on the base of this statue were a bunch of words, and one quote in particular stood out to me: 

“My life is my message”

City Year encourages us to think in visionary ways. We are young, we have a vision, and we are committed. What we do isn’t magic, it’s a labor of love. I am about to live the next year of my life in service. I’m about to spend a year testing the realities of what so many of us are encouraged to do: to spend time giving to our communities instead of just giving to ourselves. 

But it’s hard work, and hard to keep in focus. Most of my own wants and needs are just so much more visible than the wants and needs of “communities”. The world’s problems are enormous and complex, and although my problems feel complex too, it’s a safe bet that most of them will be resolvable if I have enough money- at least as far as autonomy and nutrition and health are concerned. And if not with money, then with the right music, or ice cream, or a game of frisbee barefoot on the grass.

What would it mean to live as though my life is my message? For my life to be something more than the sum of my daily choices? Gandhi’s quote encourages the reader to engage with their lives not as passive observers of a product, but as active creators and guides. If I have a sense of what message I want the world to receive from me, I suddenly take ownership of my life as the vehicle for communicating it. There’s a long term goal and a guiding structure that wasn’t there when my life was just My Life, and not also My Message.

Gandhi’s message is frightening. Who am I to think that my life is worthy of delivering a message? What if the message my life communicates is a bad one? This is scary because I don’t think a lot of people live like this...what if there’s a reason they don’t?! Could I be happy living other ways? Can I compromise, Gandhi? Can my personal life be my message, and my professional life be how I maintain some stability? What if I flip that, devoting myself to a humanity-affirming career but relaxing those standards around my friends and family?

Gandhi’s message is empowering. The mere fact that I should spend time and energy thinking about the message of my life means that my life’s message is important. It means that I am important, and that I can spend time thinking about visionary things like this. My message, because I invest time and energy into it, will become important in my eyes (and therefore important in the lives of the friends, family members, and others who observe me). I can make a difference. Even if I only make it 1% of the way to truly living a life that reflects my ideals- that’s a little bit more beauty and kindness in the world than would have existed if the quote (and the challenge contained in it) hadn’t crossed my path.

What do you think of Gandhi’s quote? Mostly a healthy challenge? An empty ideal? Is it inclusive and relevant to people of diverse life circumstances (class, gender, race, abilities, etc?). Is it just sap? Is it wonderful? What about people whose messages aren't something we want to hear?

Thanks for visiting,

-KLG

First post - Welcome

Do you ever wonder why people aren't nicer to each other? Or about what level of activism represents the minimum standard for human decency? Do you wonder why everyone seems obsessed with glitter? What the young people today are really up to?

Welcome to my blog.

I wonder about these sorts of things all the time. Despite the time and energy I spend on questions, I don't have a lot of answers. I have ideas though, and that's a solid start.

I just graduated college (May 2013), and ever since my brain has been brimming with thoughts, ideas, and questions about how the world is and how it should be. This blog is going to be a space where I share some of those reflections with you. You can expect new content from me once every week or so. Fingers crossed, I will have guest posts often from friends of mine who are also out there living life, thinking things. 

Brief Bio:

I was born over 20 years ago to two Latino immigrants to the United States. I grew up in the suburbs outside of DC, and went to a small liberal arts college in the Midwest for my undergrad degrees (Philosophy, Women's and Gender Studies). While in university, I was able to travel to countries ranging from India to France to Bolivia to Argentina, and those experiences radically impacted my relationships to globalization, environmentalism, political theory, and social justice. Since graduating, I've moved back to the DC area and am now doing 10 months of full-time community service with an organization called City Year. City Year places volunteers in high-need urban schools to provide the human and emotional capital needed to end the dropout crisis in the USA. I've been in training for 5 weeks and Monday August 26th is the first day of school! This blog is getting off the ground right before my life really changes forever. I'm glad you're here to join me on the journey.

Till the next time, (and don't forget to think about civil rights this weekend!)

-KLG