My high school health teacher once tried to calm and soothe our angsty teenage souls by saying, “You know how people always try to tell you that the teenage years are the best years of your life? Well, it’s not true. And you should be glad. You should know that life will get better. It will get harder, but it will get better.” In many ways, he was right. I don’t have people judging me for what I wear in everyday life quite as much. I have less acne, more knowledge and skills and more confidence.
But something has begun to fade from my brain that existed there before, a feeling I enjoyed very much in high school: the distinct desire to rebel. I loved that feeling and still do. As I entered and continued on into college, that movement in my soul was set aflame by truths about white men burning down entire towns of black people, by learning the fact that women still earn less than men for doing the same work, by participating in street marches for living wages and immigration reform. I kept the flame burning by living with others who desired to keep up with these truths in their current manifestations.
Now, as I grow older each day, reading daily and talking to strangers helps continue manifestations of a distinct desire to question, to bring critical thought and reflection into my everyday life, as a long lost relative whose only home is now mine. I distinctly sense, from influences in this last year of school, from spending more time in conversation with my brother, from what international students have taught me, a revival of the rebellion within me.
I begin this blog as a travel journal, speaking of my time here in Ecuador, and I hope to continue it as a trail of thoughts, urgings, insights, and support for others in the struggle. To learn more about what this means, return to this blog.
Much love to my family and friends from my home and around the world and to the new people I have yet to meet here in Ecuador.
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