Bonjour From Geneva
Posted on October 02, 2002 in letters.
Dear Friends,
In Uruguay, tribes gather in the evenings, at the beach. As the sun goes down, they clap and rejoice in the simple pleasures of their lives.
That's one of the things I learned this week, at the World Youth Conference in Geneva (Switzerland). Maybe you'd expect to pick up things like that at a gathering of folks from 80 different countries but I certainly didn't expect to hear a first hand experience of it.
So yes, once again, I'm using one of my trips as an excuse to say hello to all of you :) ... hello! Hope you are doing great. All's well here.
I started my trip with a couple days in New York. Met lots of people in a short time, experienced 100% humidity in NY, an afternoon in Central Park with some falafels and good company, and ... spent the first night with five friends in one small room, second night by the water front in Jersey, third in the airplane and fourth in a Geneva hotel. :) When traveling in the spirit of service, you go where the wind blows.
Geneva, of course, is quite a place -- home of the United
Nations, Red Cross, WHO and chocolate, cheese and French
speaking people. :) Things are very expensive and supermarkets
have an entire floor dedicated to chocolate varieties!
After hearing Kofi Annan's message (he wasn't there, though) in the opening ceremonies of the conference, it was no surprise that we were in one of the big-whig conference rooms -- fancy chairs, personal microphones and headphones, simultaneous translations, you name it. The only problem was that I had to speak on the first day, addressing the whole crowd! :)
It was a bit intimidating at first since I was the
youngest speaker and was feeling like 4AM due to my
jet-lag. :) But by the time it was my turn, I reiterated
to myself why I'm doing this and rolled through with a spontaneous
talk. I think I woke them up so there was good applause
in the room. :) Kids (16-32) asked me to teach in their
schools, gave me their "best speaker" awards, insisted on taking
pictures with me and so on. Kids! :) It was a good connection,
actually. I didn't make any mention of CharityFocus or 
anything I'm involved with and that only reinforced
the message of my talk -- service. All my workshops (technology,
violence) were over capacity and left folks pretty inspired too.
I'm glad I went.
Of course, then there's the Matrix underneath the surface. :) Got to hang out with some nuns as well as UN leaders, joined group meditations and late night chill-out sessions with youth, ran into a German mystic along with nonprofit leaders, did some random acts of kindness and was almost taken for an attempted robbery. :) Many lessons learned.
In my first workshop, I met Antonijia from Croatia. She managed to get to Geneva but her bags got lost along the way. For most of us, it's no biggie; we'll go out and get some more clothes, shoes and toothbrushes. But that wasn't an option for Antonijia. She borrowed stuff and got by. As she was describing this in her not-so-fluent English, she came to an epiphany of sorts that broke all barriers of language: "Jou know, I realize someting right now -- I'm much more dan my bags."
Indeed. Much more than our bags.
On the third day, her bags had somehow arrived. I jokingly told her, "Right on time." She smiled with a simple glowing face. I probably won't see her again but I will think of her everytime I see my 'bags'.
As the sun goes down, they clap and rejoice in the simple pleasures of life.
In simplicity of the heart,