It’s been more than a week in Louisiana and we have just moved on from city life in New Orleans to what seems to be the middle of nowhere known as Dulac. Before this drastic transition between such contrasting places, I learned a lot in New Orleans. I have never in my entire life felt more welcomed to a place than I felt by every single person I met here. It was fairly obvious how passionate the people here are for this place and it seems as if their main goal is to show everyone that comes here, exactly why New Orleans is so valuable. From this, I have drawn the conclusion that there is not a catastrophe devastating enough that could stop the heart of this city, and it will stay alive forever with the passion exuded by its inhabitants.
Aside from living in the constant epitome of southern hospitality, I also learned so much about the institutions and organizations that I thought were implemented for our protection but instead are fraudulent and plagued with scandal and deceit. I am less eager to trust government institutions like the FDA who blatantly ignore and provide cover-ups to the obvious dangers of dispersants and the oil spill just to see the numbers they want on their paychecks. I am less willing to support a criminal justice program filled with dirty cops out with racist attempts to fill the jails in New Orleans and take advantage of people ignorant to their rights as citizens. Its just amazing to me to see the extent people will go to amass wealth, even if that involves neglecting their actual occupational purpose which results in mistreatment of the citizens the institutions were ironically set in place to protect.
The day at Our School At Blair Grocery (www.ourschoolatblairgrocery.org) was the most inspirational day on this trip thus far. Nat Turner lives without walls or electricity and has often times found himself living off of bags of coins and teaching out of his only possession; a school bus. He teaches kids from his neighborhood that have been brought up in environments not optimal for high success rates, fraudulent with drugs and crime. Regardless of the fact that the visible success that he has with these children is a slow process that often contains multiple set backs and disappointment, he has devoted his entire life and intelligence to making his world a better place, slowly but surely. That to me is volunteerism at its highest form, because he has committed every ounce of his energy to his passion of helping the children around him that wouldn’t have a chance at success without his attention. It was just so inspiring to meet a man that has invested everything he has into seeing the change that he wishes to see. He mentioned that only one of us would walk away and actually do something with the knowledge and tools he shared with us. I want to be that one person and I have made a promise to myself not to let him down, because he deserves the best and I would love for him to be the start of a chain reaction of passionate good deeds that I too will pass on. Thanks to Nat Turners immaculate perspective and level of articulacy, I am motivated now more than ever before to give everything I have to change the world, and I promise that I will make it happen, just wait….