Through my personal mission to help save lives in Africa I have often been called an idealist. However I don’t think there is any other constructed term that can be used to describe me and my work. I am an idealist, some say I am a naive idealist, and that is where I tell them they are wrong. My ideals have become realities, my ideals have never been so naive and seemingly unattainable. I define myself by my chosen actions, that is, the choices I make embodied. Therefore I see a time where everyone acts on what they truly believe and not what the popular society tells them. A time where people are motivated solely by the most basic human emotion of compassion and that compassion is demonstrated through their actions to help others and change the world for the better. Your choices define you, your actions define you – how will you choose to act today? How will you show compassion to another person in need today? Your name means nothing, your clothes mean nothing, your amount of income means nothing, your body means nothing – meaning is created in how you dream, how you choose, and how you act. I have seen so many people fall victim to society and the newest pair of jeans wins out over a life in Africa, I have seen a pair of shoes take precedence over the medication for a dying child, I have seen ignorance defeat hope – yet, after all that I have seen so many people let go of their name, their material wants, and their incomes and become dedicated to saving lives in Africa. There is a long and terrible past of exploits and screw-ups in our nation’s name on the African continent, too many to name, too many to discuss because what is most important now is that as we are saving lives in Africa now, Africa is reciprocally saving our lives from a life without meaning. Add meaning to your life, choose to act and not to sit by idly, choose to stand up and create the new reality. Neither one can happen without the other. It may be difficult to see the direct impact of your choices and actions, but you must know and remember that people are being helped. Recognition is not the end to the means. Saving lives and making a difference is the means and the end. Some may get all of the recognition, but that does not discount anything that anyone else has done.
each day as we arise
thousands fall just outside
where good intentions
pave the streets they call home
and tomorrow never comes
the time is now
we are called to take a stand
we are a rallying cry for
the voiceless
(poem from Mathitis)
Alex B. Hill 