People are More Like Gardens

11 Days Until Liftoff. 

Somewhere during my senior year of college, I began to take this stance of "no excuses." There was no excuse to get my work done, and therefore, there is no excuse from anyone else that would be acceptable. I suppose that might be what happens when I lost a friend from middle school, worked two ResEd jobs, had a full time internship, and I was still a full-time student. My first post also spoke about those accomplishments, but really, I just spent a lot of time pushing myself through the end. College is like a four year marathon and now I'm breathless.

So, while I took up this "No Excuses" stance, I forgot my number one rule: People are beautiful because of all the reasons they're not "perfect" (and not being perfect, means there are exceptions to my college completing rule). People are beautiful for their baggage, their stories, their mistakes. They're eccentric and exciting because of their interests and regions and skills. They're outstanding for every difficulty they've overcome. As an extrovert, I must believe that people are excellent.

People are like gardens. The person standing in front of you is the day's crop, the day's flowers, the day's well-maintained backyard. Of course, there are roots underneath. Each year, each important event creates a new root - new addition is made. While this may seem elementary as a metaphor, it's my way of justifying what is classified as immoral, inappropriate, violent human behavior. Somewhere along the line, an event occurred and the garden wasn't as pure anymore - it's not so well maintained, now there are weeds and no one comes to take care of the garden anymore. There is always the option to come back to your garden, to take care of yourself again, but not everyone is ready go back.

So, how does this apply to Americorps? If I said I wasn't nervous and anxious about meeting new people and making friends, I actually wouldn't be able to make it through the damn sentence as it is such a lie. I get nervous reading the Facebook page, I get nervous thinking about the plane, I get anxious thinking about being away from my blood-relatives and self-made-family-of-friends for the first time in my life. Sure, MSU wasn't my house, but it was still NJ. So, here I am, and I have a choice: Do I leave the garden untended? Do I let the doubts and worries grow in light of the "no excuses" policy? Or do I go back to the garden, get some fresh air, and get to work remembering what I like so much about talking to people?

It's high time for new stories to listen to and to grow a new section of memories in my life. I have a choice, and for 11 more days until liftoff I'm staying positive.