Christine

I thought of Christine today. The one who didn’t get enough time, who didn’t get to live out her dreams, who never got to go to college. Christine died shortly after her high school graduation. She was the valedictorian but couldn’t give her graduation speech because she was in the hospital. She never enjoyed her full ride scholarship because she didn’t live to see the fall. Christine was a wonderful person, sarcastic and witty – a perfect match for my love to laugh. We would banter back and forth while being the backstage tech geeks that we were. When she announced her diagnosis at the beginning of her senior year I didn’t have a thought of her not beating the leukemia.

I remember sitting at Ms. Moscotta’s funeral in February and it having an ominous feeling. What if this is foreshadowing Christine’s similar fight with cancer? What if Christine senses defeat? What if the end is near?

By July her pain was over and my juvenile sense of immortality had come crashing down. Life was not a given. Chances and opportunities were not to be tossed away, assuming more would present themselves. In the most Hallmark sense of the word, this is where my inspiration began. I had lost two phenomenal women in the span of months. I needed to live for them. Christine never got to attend college, but I did. Christine never got to pursue her passion, but I do. Christine never go to travel around the world, but I am.

Fear and doubt aren’t options when life is passing you by. Wake up and act like it’s your last chance, then see what you achieve in a day.

I’ve had people (I won’t name names) emailing me, referring to how inconsequential their life in the US is. Sure life in Africa seems much more dramatic and monumental, but I scoff at any of you at home who are undermining your own importance.

This isn’t a trial run at life. This is a one round kind of game (depending on your beliefs). The power we hold just by being American is astounding and frightening. I am reminded this every time I am asked for money because of the color of my skin and the passport I carry. Not only can we do great things, we can do small things that are life altering, awe inspiring, love creating.

This is my public service announcement to take one minute to reflect on life -the balance of insignificance to and yet awesome power we hold. In the words of a great song – Get up offa that ass.



RIP to all of those who died too young yet inspired us to do better, reach further, and love fuller.