First of all, if you have not read/watched/listened to Sharon Eubank's BYU speech entitled "Turning Enemies into Friends," you need to hit that up. It is amazing! I loved her message. Here is the link: https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/sharon-eubank_turning-enemies-into-friends/. She talks about service to others, using our free time to do good and be productive rather than wasting it, and especially about helping others. Many of us feel that we should invest significant amounts of time and money into helping save the world. We want to build schools or wells or make quilts or 72-hour kits or go on humanitarian trips. These are all worthy endeavors, but she says that the biggest gift is us ourselves. We are the gift. We have the ability, each one of us, to change lives just by helping people feel loved, safe, and welcome wherever they go. The world is full of so much hatred and divisiveness, and we have the ability to share light and goodness wherever we go, and that is free and can be applied immediately. No need to wait for donations or logistics to be determined. Instead of giving handouts, we can give hugs. We can promote peace and friendship instead of promoting our organization's humanitarian trip. The small things we do each day, like finding common ground with those whose beliefs and ideas differ from ours or befriending someone who is alone or advocating respect and love to all, can make just as much of a difference-- if not more-- than the tangible products we provide to develop the world. This can be a hard idea to grasp for some, including myself; after all, it's easier to make a quilt than foster an environment of respect and love among friends and strangers. But this is something everyone is capable of doing, regardless of social or financial status or any other barriers that prevent some from getting involved.
Coming to Cambodia has been an experience that has been rewarding beyond anything I could have imagined. But as I was there, I realized that there is development work to be done everywhere, not just in developing countries. We can't think that just because America is nice, it cannot be improved. There are still millions that live in poverty. There is hatred and bigotry. There is work to be done. And I, for one, need to do better at doing development work at home in the United States.
One way that I saw this example while in Cambodia has been getting to know one of our team members, a girl from New Jersey. All of our team members are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints except for her. As such, she was exposed to a lot of talk about our church doctrine and beliefs, LDS cultural practices, talks of missions and temple marriage and so many other things only members of the Church would ever discuss. She was a gift to each of us, and I hope we were able to be a gift of sorts for her. She was so open and accepting of us and our beliefs, and we were able to share many points of doctrine with her. She even came to church with us on several Sundays throughout our program. There was no cynicism, no judgment on either side, just love. I loved to see her feel comfortable discussing religion with us and to see other team members have genuine conversations with her about her religious beliefs. What if that could be replicated everywhere? What if the hatred people feel toward one another over politics or religion or race or culture could be replaced with acceptance and tolerance? If that could happen, I think bullying and crime and even wars could be nearly eradicated. We could very likely obtain the nearly comical ideal of world peace. It all starts with respect for each other, tolerance, and open dialogue.
Throughout this program, we have been able to do a lot of good. We have taught in schools, built a well and a playground, marketed for a social enterprise, mentored small business grant recipients, delved into Cambodian culture and history, and so many other things. I have always wanted to do a humanitarian/development trip like this, but as I look back, the things that stick out to me were not the projects we accomplished. It isn't the wells or the lessons or the products that we did that I will remember the most. It is the relationships I developed with the people we served. It's the smiles on the kids' faces when we played games and taught lessons, the heroes we interacted with, and the people we collaborated with that I will remember the most. And creating those memories would not require me to travel halfway around the world. It's possible to have those same experiences right where I live in America. It has been quite eye-opening to me. We all have gifts to share with others, right here, right now. It's up to us whether to participate or to stand idle on the sidelines. The world needs a lot of help, and we have a lot we can give, whether we think so or not. The question to ask ourselves is this: are you ready to act?
Coming to Cambodia has been an experience that has been rewarding beyond anything I could have imagined. But as I was there, I realized that there is development work to be done everywhere, not just in developing countries. We can't think that just because America is nice, it cannot be improved. There are still millions that live in poverty. There is hatred and bigotry. There is work to be done. And I, for one, need to do better at doing development work at home in the United States.
One way that I saw this example while in Cambodia has been getting to know one of our team members, a girl from New Jersey. All of our team members are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints except for her. As such, she was exposed to a lot of talk about our church doctrine and beliefs, LDS cultural practices, talks of missions and temple marriage and so many other things only members of the Church would ever discuss. She was a gift to each of us, and I hope we were able to be a gift of sorts for her. She was so open and accepting of us and our beliefs, and we were able to share many points of doctrine with her. She even came to church with us on several Sundays throughout our program. There was no cynicism, no judgment on either side, just love. I loved to see her feel comfortable discussing religion with us and to see other team members have genuine conversations with her about her religious beliefs. What if that could be replicated everywhere? What if the hatred people feel toward one another over politics or religion or race or culture could be replaced with acceptance and tolerance? If that could happen, I think bullying and crime and even wars could be nearly eradicated. We could very likely obtain the nearly comical ideal of world peace. It all starts with respect for each other, tolerance, and open dialogue.
Throughout this program, we have been able to do a lot of good. We have taught in schools, built a well and a playground, marketed for a social enterprise, mentored small business grant recipients, delved into Cambodian culture and history, and so many other things. I have always wanted to do a humanitarian/development trip like this, but as I look back, the things that stick out to me were not the projects we accomplished. It isn't the wells or the lessons or the products that we did that I will remember the most. It is the relationships I developed with the people we served. It's the smiles on the kids' faces when we played games and taught lessons, the heroes we interacted with, and the people we collaborated with that I will remember the most. And creating those memories would not require me to travel halfway around the world. It's possible to have those same experiences right where I live in America. It has been quite eye-opening to me. We all have gifts to share with others, right here, right now. It's up to us whether to participate or to stand idle on the sidelines. The world needs a lot of help, and we have a lot we can give, whether we think so or not. The question to ask ourselves is this: are you ready to act?
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