Life Experiences

First off, I must tell readers that this post is from the view point of a 17 year old adolescent male. I am at what could be termed the start of my life journey.

Recently I visited a retirement home. I used to think of places like these as the end of the road - everyone inside being half-senile and therefore "stupid". How wrong I was. And I am ashamed of that juvenile approach to a place of care. Upon entering the home we were introduced to a kind elderly woman who was confined to a wheelchair. While she may not have been intellectually brilliant, she was extremely wise and had much to say on the subject of life.

One of her main points she wanted to impart on us was that we should live life to the fullest. It is something that most of us do not realise until the end of our lives, posing ourselves questions at that time such as "why didn't I do X" or "why didn't I help Y?". All of these things that we missed out upon would have left us feeling much more fulfilled. They would have changed our lives.

On that note, I'd like to describe two of my most life changing experiences. Lucky for me, they happened recently, so I have a good recollection of them.

The first is my first trip to the Rosies street van. Much like my trip to the retirement village, I went into the experience with views of those I would see as set by what I saw on TV. Meeting with those without shelter really opened up my mind to everything I took for granted, and how the other half of the world often lives. While one might expect such an experience to be a horrible one, it was not. I loved all of it, from giving out drinks to talking to people who had stories to share.

My second - my trip to France, which I did during December and January of 06/07. In particular, visiting Notre Dame L'Hermitage, the home of the Marist brothers. I was partly shocked about how people (the Marist brothers) can live such unmaterialstic lives. Obviously I have great respect for them for doing this. I sometimes now find myself pondering whether I would be happier in such an environment. Maybe.

Thanks for your attention. Until next time, this is me signing off.

-E