Let Me Be Something...

Finishing the book, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, on my Mango flight from Johannesburg to Cape Town, I was struck by a passage of Betty White’s book: the main character wishes, “let me be something every minute of every hour of my life. Let me be gay; let me be sad. Let me be cold; let me be warm. Let me be hungry...have too much to eat. Let me be ragged or well dressed. Let me be sincere - be deceitful. Let me be truthful; let me be a liar. Let me be honorable and let me sin. Only let me be something every blessed minute. And when I sleep, let me dream all the time so that not one little piece of living is ever lost."

So far, I, as well as our whole group, have challenged ourselves to be something and feel something throughout our short time in South Africa. I have been wildly perplexed at the airport in Joburg, intrigued by the “rainbow nation” I heard choruses sing of on my second night here, and troubled by a young boy begging late at night on Long Street. I have been breathless, viewing the stunning Cape Town from Rhodes Memorial and atop Lion’s Head, enlightened when speaking with and learning from my learners in Manenberg. I’ve felt alive, running around the school yard with my 6^th grade learners. And both frustrated and overwhelmed by the state of education, safety, and health care of Manenberg as well as across South Africa.

In a reflection, Naveed, our RA, told us a piece of advice he had been given- to never pity anyone. It is important not to feel pity, but to work toward understanding and empathy toward everyone we meet. So let us feel something as we see a homeless man outside our house, as we pass by rows of shacks in the townships, and as we read statistics such as the fact that in 2009, 1,477,000 black Africans over the age of 15 could not write their own names. It is important to be something every minute we are here and to address the more difficult things that we see and experience. In doing so, we are working to better promote change and to ensure that “not one piece of living is ever lost.”