FEBRUARY

Details, so much details.  Do this, do that, plan this, plan that.  In the fuss and stress of it all, it is easy to forget the big picture.  Why are we holding a series of workshops?  Especially with some of the setbacks, you start to doubt whether you even had a reason for the project. To be honest, I sometimes have to sit down and force myself to remember.  But remember what?  Definitely not the mission statement or the endless discussions with friends over the years about the organization or the series of conversations with students while I was teaching at Seoul Women’s University.  No.  Strangely enough, it is future, not past oriented.  It is seeing myself in front of eager, passionate participants who will impact society.  It is seeing the work that the participants will accomplish as they return to their local communities.  It is understanding that our contributions will ultimately grow into an organic tree.  Not all the pieces will fit in nicely, perfectly.  But all the pieces will somehow contribute to the whole picture.

Yes, it is easy to get lost in details, frustrated by the setbacks, and overwhelmed by the planning.  Yet in the giving, in the sowing of the seeds, in the watering of the plant, one day, it will grow.   And in the waiting, in the believing, in the hoping, we must persist.  For if not in our lifetime but most likely in the next, we will see fields of trees swaying and majestically flaunting its beauty.  It is the vision of what will be that we do this work, work that will give life to our communities.  Without this vision, all this work will be pointless.  So it is this vision that gives us the fortitude to go forward with this event.  

 

Sam
Founder. Executive Director

Feb. 1, 2018

Samantha Joo