a revelation about the world

Bula(hello)!
Right now I am sitting in my dorm room during j-term and thinking about life. I just got done watching an amazing documentary about the TED conference which I had never heard of before(thank you netflix!). The TED conference brings togeather some of the greatest minds in the world to tackle some of the greatest issues in the world today. It made me think about my life and how I want to make the world better. This blog entry was originally going to be about my trip with my family. It was going to be about the places we went and the things we saw. All of which were valuable in their own sense. However, now I look at this trip and see something different. Yes I see the orange picking, a trip to an amazing zoo, a view of a city from over 1,000 feet but I see something different too. I see a possibility for my life and the lives of people around me. So to start, the day that I went home for break I challenged my mother to turn off the tv and computer for the few days before christmas that I would be home. She replied with “I dont want to.” With much arguing we did not turn off the tv. Now you may say how is this even close to relevant to my trip and any possibility for my life? Well its because I wanted to connect with people again. I wanted to slow down and see the world. Not watch it go by like it does so many days. I tried to do that on this vacation with my family. But what I learned is that most people dont take the time to see the world. They may stop once in a while and watch something of interest, like the giant pandas, but it seems that we dont pay attention to what we see. I was told many times during the 10 days that I spent with my family “Emily hurry up we have more stuff to do.” Each time I was told this I thought “isnt what we are doing right now important too?” What I really mean by this is that its more important to see not watch the things in front of us. Yes I want to watch everything but that isnt going to make me a better person. It is just going to drive me crazy. So how this whole crazy rambling of mine ties into my life and yes I do have a point. I want to listen, see, live, and understand the world around me. Not watch, hear, get through, and know the world around me. How am I going to do this? Im not sure yet but I think it involves listening to peoples stories. Truly seeing a place. Living as others do and just paying attention to the world. So what I want now is to listen to your story. Tell me anything! A good time. A bad time. Something Strange. Something Amazing. But tell a story. Its the only way that people can know each other. Its the only way we can make the world into what it is supposed to be. I think I can change the world. I think everyone can change the world. But if we hear the stories of others we can change the world in a way that will be better for everyone.
Vinaka(thank you)