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Foundry United Youth Sunday Testimonies Efayomi Carr |
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Sunday, June 17, 2007 |
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On the
first day of school in 5th grade, my homeroom teacher Mr. Peed
gave us all some very important advice. He said that the best way for us to
nurture our young curious minds was to always ask: why? So I, being the
smart, countered with a similar question: why me? Why should I sit in this
class, why should I listen to this man teach, why was I subject to a
bureaucracy which forcibly placed me in a school when I’d rather enjoy doing
other things. Fortunately
for me, as I’ve grown older my why me attitude has slightly shifted. Over
this last Christmas break I had the wonderful opportunity of visiting Now to
continue my story I must reveal to you all one of my most sacred secrets. I’m
serious now. Once I say this, I’d be very upset if you so much as mentioned
this in fellowship hall, on the ride home, or even 10 years from now. This
stays between you and me – and by “you,” I am, of course, referring to
everyone in this congregation. Also, let me preface by mentioning though this
is embarrassing it comes as a direct result of an enlightening moment I had
while staring at the Sierra Leonean sky. Well here goes, I absolutely love
star gazing… OK, I don’t see the look of amazement and shock that one would
expect after sharing one of their closest secrets, but fine. Let me at least
explain why I enjoy it so much. There are 3 main reasons. The
first is that it is very humbling for me. It puts things in perspective when
I can look up into the vast landscape of twinkling lights and know that these
things arrived on this planet far before me and will stay there far after I
am gone. That these same stars stood over people and places that I could
never see or feel. To look and stare at something that I could never possibly
grasp or contain makes me feel incredibly insignificant and ordinary, as
depressing as that may sound. It causes my actions to seem unimportant when I
step back and realize that there are others literally searching for a way to
put food on the table. This
leads into my second reason which is that I feel more connected to the
greater human community when I see the stars. As I sat looking at the
illuminated sky my mind couldn’t help but drift back to DC, and imagine who
back home was watching these stars. This led me to wonder who anywhere in the
world could be peering at the very same images. It’s tremendously powerful
for me to look towards the heavens and wonder why I was in the position I’m
in. Why had I been fortunate enough to be born in to a family, a country, and
a life, of relative wealth, leisure, and comfort while I could just have
easily been placed into a situation of poverty, struggle, and war? This
consumed my thoughts as my gaze fell from the sky down to the rocky, unpaved
streets of You see
the 3rd and final reason for my love of stargazing is inspiration.
It’s incredibly motivating to understand how little effect I can have on the
stars themselves, while realizing that I can greatly alter the world beneath
them. Though I was surrounded by destitute circumstances I held hope that
maybe I could conceivably bring change to the situation. Call me naïve or
even foolish for thinking this but I stand by the belief that all of us can
positively change the world. Now although curing AIDS is beyond the reach for
most of us, our simple acts of kindness and charity can also have profound
impacts on those around us. Though we sometimes forget, or at least I do, we
have all been placed in a situation of extreme luxury and opportunity, but
this opportunity is wasted if we don’t use it for the betterment of others.
In www.foundryumc.org |
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