Number Three

'Man plans. God laughs.'

I planned. God laughed.

The plan: On Friday 19 February 2010 I was to fly from Miami, USA to Santiago, Chile. I was to live and take Spanish classes in Santiago for 2 weeks and then make my way to Valparaiso around 8 March for orientation at Pontificia Universidad Catolica. God giggled: In the days preceding my 19 February departure, the cumulative effect of several life-circumstances (namely, my proclivity for taking my time completing tasks and my disdain for feeling rushed) compelled me to push back my date of departure to Thursday 4 March 2010.

On Saturday 27 February 2010, God's giggle evolved into roaring laughter. As most of you know, early on Saturday morning a magnitude 8.8 earthquake struck central Chile. The epicenter of the quake was near Concepcion, a city that is about 350 miles south of Valparaiso. Valparaiso and Santiago have both been affected by the earthquake. To what extent, particularly in Valpo, I am not quite sure (beyond what I can glean from news reports and photographs). I was able to get in touch with the other Rotary scholar, Rachel, that will be living in Valparaiso with me as well. She is currently taking Spanish classes in Santiago and was out in city when the earthquake struck. Thankfully she is alright, albeit a bit shaken up (quite literally... figuratively too). Check out Rachel's blog for her incredible account of the earthquake.

Rachel is the only person on the ground in Chile that I have been able to get in touch with. I am trying to make contact with the administrators at PUCV as well as the Rotarians in Valparaiso in an effort to assess the situation and make a decision about whether I need to change my plans yet again.

I woke up to God's laughter on Saturday morning. Accompanying God's laughter was a deluge – to the point of overwhelm – of e-mails, text messages, phone calls, even facebook messages, from my concerned family and friends. Words are inadequate when I attempt to convey precisely how grateful I am to be blessed with so much love in my life. I am so appreciative of the outpouring of concern I have received and I send a sincere thank you to all of my friends and family for the support and compassion.

It's a curious emotion – knowing that I should have been in Santiago on Saturday morning. My absence can be attributed to a fortunate turn of fate. I have come to recognize these sorts of circumstances as part of life's splendid serendipity. In my mind, I was very reluctant to delay my flight. Logic and reason told me to go to Chile, acclimate, brush up on my Spanish. Plus I was eager to get there and begin the adventure that I have so diligently planned for nearly 2 years. In my heart, however, it just felt right to stay in Florida for just a little while longer. My heart whispered for me to stay, to avoid the stress of haste. I have learned this lesson repeatedly during my 24 years of existence: follow feelings – a serendipitous twist of fate always awaits just down the road, if only your mind and heart allow you to recognize it.

Finally, I always like to think that contained within every challenge a seed of greatness awaits. In 2 months the world has seen 2 significant natural disasters, first in Haiti and now in Chile. Let the great tragedies that have recently shattered the lives of so many of our friends and family serve as seed, a reminder that every single person on this planet is united by the common bond of our shared humanity. We all inhabit this wild, untamed world together. All of humanity is trying to survive and flourish together. We must not let the concrete and comfort that separates us from the Earth fool us into believing that we do not live on a planet teeming with wilderness. No amount of humanity's progress and technological feats can alter the reality that this planet is very much alive and natural. An extraordinarily unnecessary amount of man-made plight plagues humanity – war, poverty, economic recessions, etc. These examples of injustice, intolerance, ignorance and extreme selfishness pit men against men and brothers versus brothers. It is challenge enough merely to survive and thrive on this planet.

The seed of greatness that I find in the midst of the chaos of Mother Nature's wrath is an idea – the idea of the simple, perfect bond that we all share. The idea that every person on Earth is connected, as humanity strives to flourish on this wild, unpredictable and beautiful planet.

My thoughts and prayers are with those that are suffering in Haiti and in Chile. May the reality of their tragedy soon become a memory, may they have the courage and strength to remain resilient and hopeful, and, of course, may God soon replace their suffering with laughter.

(Image, though not entirely related to the contents of this post – unless you see it as a symbol of Earth's erratic beauty and splendor even in apparently treacherous places – courtesy of the artistic prowess of my soul sister, Gabriela Filasky.)

Numero 2

Dear World,

Thirty-five days since my last post. Nine days until I depart for Chile (!!!). I have spent the past 35 days doing precisely what I previously (in # 1) indicated I would be doing: finishing up Rotary paperwork (Rotary Travel Service booked my airfare to Santiago and the first half of my scholarship disbursed… there’s no stopping me now!), tying up loose ends in law school (pro bono hours are almost complete… aaaaand thus far that is the extent of my 'tying up'… more to come in the coming days), ‘packing’ (so like, not literally packing, but definitely packing in the metaphorical sense… like in my mind, I am packing...), and spending time with my family and friends (I have whole-heartedly devoted myself to this important task!).

Speaking of spending time with family and friends, I am a self-designated socializing sensei (Mom, you can attest to that, can you not?). In the absence of the responsibility of law school, I have taken my socializing prowess to new and unexplored heights. And, in the wake of the horrifying earthquake that shook the lives of the people in Haiti, I decided to capitalize on my socializing talents and help organize a ‘Help Haiti’ fundraiser. Thirty e-mails, 1 awesome flier, 1 facebook event (with well over 1,500 invitees), 3 facebook messages, 7 days and the seamless efforts of 6 people was all it took to raise nearly $2000 on behalf of the Haiti earthquake relief efforts. From the hearts of the people of Miami, into the hands of the American Red Cross Haiti Relief Fund and FISH Ministries Haiti relief efforts, and ultimately into the hearts of the people of Haiti. This experience, the almost effortless orchestration of the Help Haiti fundraiser, gives me yet another reason to place faith in humanity's capacity to do and, more importantly, be good.

And now, please allow me to digress. I am so impressed by much of the world’s reaction to the earthquake – the genuine, urgent outpouring of tremendous compassion and generosity. We have relied on social media (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, blogs...) to garner awareness of the need in Haiti; we have utilized communications technology to donate (by telephone, on the Internet, by text messaging, by adding a dollar or 2 or 50 to payments at grocery stores…) to the organizations contributing to relief efforts. These are creative solutions to the challenges faced by the people of Haiti and the people of the world, as we work, united, to rebuild the shattered country and shattered lives. These creative solutions – using modern technology to educate and facilitate strategic action – are the ones on which we will rely as we continue to solve the great challenges of the modern world.

And now, allow me to continue the digression. We live at an incredible time. Social consciousness is trendy. Generosity is cool. Volun-tourism is the new tourism. People are connected in ways that no generation has ever experienced. What I once previously saw as blazing apathy is now being replaced with the idea that people are instead filled with forgivable ignorance. And these very people, when presented with simple opportunities to help, will help, help and help some more. The world’s outpouring of compassion and generosity these past few weeks gives me reason to maintain my unyielding optimism. I hope, perhaps, some of you feel the same way.

Okey dokey… that’s enough social preaching out of me (though I can assure, this will not be the last you hear/read…). I’ll end this blog post with an admission/apology. In an effort to entice my family and friends to actually follow my blog, I had previously informed them that this blog would be comprised of a series of short, postcard style entries, accompanied by photos of my envy-evoking travels. I renege on this offer. Sorry, friends. It’s just that I value, far too much, the simple act of writing. If I lose readers because of it, so be it (those of you to whom I direct this apology probably did not make it this far anyway… cough cough, Gabriela!). So, please allow me to disclaim/warn/toss in a caveat: this, blog Numero 2, is one of many verbose blog posts to come.

From Café Demetrio, Coral Gables, Florida, EEUU, your friend, Natalie