Making My Life Count ... Quietly
BY JENIECE TORANZO, MESA, ARIZONA, USA- Ok so I have a confession. I really haven't told to many people that I am going to Zambia. I have tried to keep it a secret and slowly told a few people when I felt it was ok to do. My reason? There are several. One is that I have always kept my personal life more private and even when I am asked questions about my personal life, I tend to beat around the bush and trick the person into turning the question on them. Ok so my secret is out on that. Oops.
I honestly didn't want to jinx myself by telling other people like family and friends. What if I told all these people and then I wasn't able to go due to funding. Then it would look like I was a liar or just bragging to people. I didn't really want to go through all of that and risk it so I just kept my mouth shut. I wasn't sure what kind of reaction I would get either. I am not worried at all about what we are doing. I am very proud and honored that I am a part of someting great. So far I have gotten a little bit of negative, neutral, and mostly positive feedback. I didn't want people to treat me differently or act differently. Now I don't know if this is stupid to think, but I keep wondering, will we be missed? Will our family and friends miss us because we will be gone for practically a month! A lot can happen in a month. What if something happened to us? "Knock on wood" that it doesn't. I really truly hope that everybody willl be able to go and that we will be able to have enough support for everything so we can pull this off.
One of my favorite quote is from the movie WHERE THE HEART IS. Most of the quote makes me think of this project. We are fighting for a good thing and it would be a memorable moment in our lives if we were able to succeed in it and be able to pass it on. Natalie Portman plays the character Novalee Nation and she says: "You tell them that our lives can change with every breath we take ... and tell 'em to hold on like hell to what they've got: each other, and a mother who would die for them and almost did ... You tell them we've all got meanness in us, but we've got goodness too. And the only thing worth living for is the good. And that's why we've got to make sure we pass it on. "