....Life

In searching for what to do now that I've graduated college, I've milled over tons of various ideas. My options seem vast. With everything I've done and experienced and with the skills I've gained over the past four years, I feel like I've come to the edge of a cliff. Now is my time to jump into this endless abyss. This is how I feel now, like I have a huge empty void standing before me. There are so many ideas I've worked through, either by applications and interviews, or by way of thought. Yet, I haven't hit the mark. I'm still not getting my unique nail into this piece of wood. And, of course this task would be hard. It's like how a dog walks around in circles until resting in that perfect spot. There's a place for me that fits just right, but I'm still circling it.

I think I'm coming closer though. I applied to work as an intern at the Earth Island Institute, which is an offshoot of the David Brower Center. It was founded in 1982 by the man, as an umbrella organization for the many, many non-profits striving to protect the planet. This method ensures that small organizations have access to the professional services, fiscal administration, program management, office space, and equipment to work well.

This idea is perfect and necessary for change to happen, I believe. It reminds me of a realization I made my first year in college.

When I first went to the University of California at Santa Cruz, I was opened to many different types of grass-roots organizations and student clubs. I remember wandering the central plaza with a friend, passing by tables with representatives behind them calling for our attention. I vividly recall stopping between two table on opposite sides of the walk way. I looked back and forth perplexed. One's sign read "Socialist Organization," white the other read "Student's United for Socialism." I asked one side why they hadn't combined forces, and he said something about one leader having a personal issue with the other. I scoffed at this and decided not to enter a University Socialist group.

Now it seemed like a sad joke to me. How could the socialist group make any kind of change or movement at all, if a few people in the group couldn't get over a minor issue for the sake of the cause? They had no momentum if they lacked force in numbers, and strength of backbone.

I've wondered since, why are there so many little non-profit organizations that work independently of each other. While one is working to save the sea turtles in Costa Rica, and another is trying to eradicate styrofoam from production, aren't they both working to save the planet?

This is what The Earth Island Institute has done: combined like forces, because the man behind it, David Brower, was smart enough to realize that this is what has to be done in order to actually effect change.

SO, this is the organization I'm applying to intern at, in order to become more involved with what I am passionate about. It will bring me closer to what I care about, which is what life is all about. Like a yo-yo we become unraveled, learning, growing, and experiencing. But, we need to become rolled back up to the source, to our original points of view in our hearts, that will guide us on our life's paths whether or not we are aware of it.