when something matters

so i'm back from nashville.. and not only did i decide not to do thursday nights hw before i left, but i still havent gotten/started hw from my absence on friday! i was sitting down down math hw with my mac open playing ani difranco, when i got bored and checked my emaill... and read this email from augustin over in burundi, africa. the title was "happy new year" heres a peak:

I write this message just to wish you a happy new year. I know that I am late, but it is deep and it comes straight from my heart. I am sorry for not writing you often, I am busy. But I promis to do my best in order to keep contact with you. Jodi, I am thinking about a project for street children. I will make you know as soon as I finish. Greet every body. Thank you and God Bless you.

Augustin



i thought that was just.. precious, i dont even have the words for it. once you visit a place like that, you realize how much everyone there is doing, and how motivated they all are, or atleast how the people with the littlest bit of opportunity are SO motivated to do something good. i wrote back a long email explaining that there was a movie made here about the massacre in rwanda, and how i thought it was good that people here are being aware of their neighbors in africa, and realizing that we cant just turn our backs when people are in need.


this wave of sadness came when i looked back at my math books... and thinking about college, and spending hours and hours writing papers and plugging in numbers to formulas to prepare for this real word that is standing outside of myself. it's not that i dont think i can do the assignments that come with school, its that i think all of us could do so much more GOOD in the world with our homework time... the things that will impact me the most are those things i'll keep with me, beyond parameters of classrooms. one of those things is africa. what kind of a lame excuse is: i'm studying i don't have time for thinking about ppl in other countries. we're all busy, and my friend augustin just found the time to say happy new year, and i couldnt be happier that he did this in late january.. because we're all a little late in taking time out of our schedules for things that matter, whether its keeping up with a friend, or helping someone out.

the problem with school is its hard to see the big picture, and what it might look like. cause right now the big picture kind of looks like i'm wasting time reviewing the details of an concept i understand.


people matter so much, there are people behind computer screens, holding pens that wrote on the paper assignments, walking with the feet that pushed down car pedals going from point A to point B, eating with the mouths that speak words in public, thinking with the minds that are seldom let be in their natural state... try not to confuse the person with the machine they opperate, or the car they drive, or the slogans they sell, we're more than that shit.


augustin said "greet everyone", thats me doing this... think about the world, the good in it, the bad... but more, the people that channel it all into some form of being. they all matter, at least to me they do.


Jodi