The Root of Knowledge

I recently realized that my father, and hence my upbringing, was full of quotes. My father died unexpectedly last year, and, since he is no longer here for me to take for granted, this past year I have been appreciating him at the strangest times. Growing up, there seemed to be a quote or saying for every situation. “Pain don’t hurt”. “When the going gets tough, the tough get going”. And one I find myself constantly saying lately, “If you’re going to do something, do it right”.

Today I find myself at the cusp of an exciting and terrifying adventure. Two months ago I left the house that Brian and I had spent one year renovating in Ireland, a country where in many ways I have grown up, having spent all my free time since I was 18 and having lived permanently for the last 3 years. We are now living on a mountain in the Berkshires in Massachusetts, training for six months in preparation for a year spent volunteering with an HIV/AIDS prevention and education programme in Namibia (That’s in Africa, for those of you wondering).

Enter two now relevant quotes that I came across written in my fathers sprawling cursive, words of practical wisdom and advice coming from the page sounding so Dad-like I can almost hear him saying to me over the phone,

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

“ Think like a person of action, act like a person of thought”
And
“Wonder, rather than doubt, is the root of knowledge”
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

For practical reasons, I write this blog to keep in contact with friends and family from all over the world during this experience. At the moment, I am not sure where in Namibia I will be placed and what the living conditions will be like. I will post whenever I can and apologize if I cannot write to you personally or respond right away.

For myself, I write in the hope that through the creation of a written record of my journey over the next year and a half, and indeed hopefully far beyond, I will begin to truly think like a person of action and act like a person of thought. I hope that by documenting all of the ups and downs, frustrations and triumphs of what is sure to be a year and a half of extremes, I will one day be able to look back with a little perspective and chart my personal growth. And finally I hope that by creating a space for myself to be honest in whatever place I happen to be at, I will enable myself to maintain a sense of openness to the world, a sense of wonder, and therein hopefully, find the root of knowledge.