"Ahh! Ahhhh! Ahhh!" a desperate, panicked voice screamed forty feet
below near the ocean-cured rocks. Yet as Lisa talked about our week at
Project WOO, and we shared snapshots of our experiences on community
surf day, the stranger's screams were subdued to a mere drone in the
periphery of my consciousness. When Lisa registered there might be
someone calling for help, I did not understand how grave the girl's
situation was until I looked down onto the rocks embedded in the ocean
below and saw her precariously close to the rocks and the crashing,
potent waves. Then Lisa, Derek (WOO workers) and TTS teachers rushed to
help her and I merely watched, aware that I don't know how to help her
and feeling fear, not bravery to help.
This moment was intense and scary. Watching the approaching waves,
fear rose in me. Fear for the girl getting twisted and hitting the
unforgiving rocks. It also conjured up fear by reminding me of my moment
of ocean stress when I lost my surf board in the far out waves at El
Paredon. I felt an overwhelming feeling of sad helplessness too. When I
was struggling, I assumed anyone would help me as Heather and Henry
did. Since anyone could fall into my position, others would empathize
and as a good Samaritan, help me. Although I now empathized deeply, I
did not feel readily able to help. I also felt a separation from Karen,
being safe on land.
As I heard the desperate cries but
did not recognize them as urgent; it is commonplace for people to know
of the plight of others but not fully acknowledge it and care. It is
also common for people to be fully aware of the plight empathize but
still feel a degree of separation and this not fully empathize and take
action.
My metaphorical realization helped shed light
on why so many US world citizens can take no action to preserve the
natural state of our planet or help with the plight here in Central
America. Especially when our degraded earth and the Central American
struggles are, in part, our fault. I have been hyper-aware of
environmental issues; I think partially because the state of our globe
affects me. But prior to TTS, I have not known or cared fully about the
hardships here. Traveling through Guatemala, Chiapas and Nicaragua and
learning and interacting with the people, however, have bestowed me
with a deep empathizing connection.
Now, I want to help
and make a change, but just as I felt overlooking the ocean, I am not
sure how. It is not that it is too scary and potentially lethal, I just
need to think more about it. As we have learned, it is difficult to
affect real change at the root of a problem and not merely the
symptoms. Yet I think this experience also makes me more understanding
of why people at home will not feel as impassioned as I do; they have
maybe heard the drone of calls for help but never witnessed the issue
firsthand.
--Anna, Senior, NY
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