My name is Kristina Lu and I know not.
I have a
passion for the world, for other countries. So often we forget that we are not
the only people here. The world does not center on us. Everyday millions of
people are living their lives in different cultures in different countries,
speaking different languages. The world is not a mythological place. People are
living in places immediately unknown to us, yet, they are just like us; maybe
they are thinking the same thing right now, even. Perhaps someone in France is experiencing her first kiss right now,
or somebody in Africa is playing a game of
soccer with his buddies. Who really knows? So rarely we stop to think about
these things.
But we should.
At every moment of every day, 7 billion people around the globe are living out
their everyday lives just as you and I are right now. As a Christian, it is my
belief that God is watching all of
these people – understanding and loving each one. Although I know it to be
inevitably impossible, I want to be able to love and know them all, too.
As I sit
here at my desk typing this essay in modest Longmont , Colorado Spain doing work for a class in
which I am studying abroad or an international company I may be working for.
Maybe I will be sitting in a lecture hall in one of the wonderful states of America
enjoying a stimulating discussion with my peers and classmates. Once again, who
knows? Only time will tell.
And it
could be that my dreams are farfetched and impractical, but that does not mean
that they are not attainable. It would be my suggestion to all people who have
faced this type of discouragement to respond with the question, “who knows?”
The rhetoric is almost irrefutable for, truly, no one knows everything
exclusively – only God does. And so, as we are indeed only humans, it then
becomes the beauty of not knowing the future that makes aspirations desirable.
It is like former representative Barbara Johnson once said, “For all of its
uncertainty, we cannot flee the future.”
Up to this
point, I have written 403 words expressing this notion of content for
uncertainty, desires, and longing to know about the world outside of the U.S.;
however, I must admit, this is not a natural mindset for me. I am one of those
people who need to know things, get things done. Uncertainty has the ability to
tear me apart. But, in essence, all of this – my desires coupled with my thirst
for knowledge and my passions, etc. – all contribute to a major growing process
(which may or may never be finished). It is by being strong in my uncertainty and
all of those “who-knows?-moments” that I believe I will continue to develop and
know and aspire to more and more.
My name is Kristina Lu and I know
not, but I look forward to the surprise.
