a culture of GIVING

so the busiest time of the year with all the gifts to buy,
people to see, and places to go, what is this time all about?

Has our world packaged, wrapped and sold the meaning away because we've been so ingrained into thinking that Christmas is just what it is every year where everyone floods the shopping malls so their closets can barely close with the amount of things and clothes waiting to be used.
As our society thrives on a culture of just 'having' more and MORE.

well I'd like to share that
it is truly about 'giving more' rather than 'having more."

These past couple of months I've been volunteering at a community center to help kids after school from with their homework. Many times they handle it themselves and get their homework done without much help. However the last time I went, I met a boy who could barely sit still to do a few math problems.I sat beside him patiently doing my Christmas cards for these kids as he fiddled with his pencil, tapped his hands on the desk, and looked up at the ceiling without having any concentration to do his homework. His mom said he didn't need any help, but obviously that was not the case.
So I began thinking of what I could do to help him,
so I put down what I was doing at that moment and placed myself in his shoes. 


As I started talking to him about his schoolwork, he started to share with me that he can't concentrate because of his lack of confidence-stemming from all the demeaning things that his teachers call him such as "stupid." My heart shattered as I saw his tears fill up, no wonder he can't concentrate nor have the motivation to get his work done. I started to see the world through his eyes. As I started to talk to him and encourage him, I discovered what he was good at-music. I asked him to play a rhythm using his hands to his favourite drum beat. As I listened, he began to do one math problem, then another, as he alternated playing a rhythm and doing math. At the end, he had finished the first page by the time his mom returned. His mom was pretty impressed with what he had finished in the short time he had. As he went off, I gave him a Christmas card I made for him with a drawing of two drums.
Without words, I felt his gratitude as his eyes expressed such joy.
Christmas is more than having, it is giving love...

a self-less giving of one`s heart to another- friend, brother, sister, stranger, human being. -that is LOVE.
it is the experience of what we as human BEINGS are called to live.

if you believe in Christmas by giving in to help, giving up your time, giving out some love...



I've involved in the Youth for a United World as we will be hosting...
What? Christmas Caroling, Games and Skating
Where? on the streets and everywhere Dundas Square
When? December 26th Boxing Day 2-5pm
Time? Meet at 2pm @ the stage in Dundas Square
How? spread joy and some love to LIGHT UP THE CITY!

more info: http://www.facebook.com/events/297931343578626/

because I BELIEVE in CHANGE.

Final Stop: Aurora, Ontario, Canada

I started writing in Italian, but I figured that it is probably better and easier to write in English, as many more people understand this language. So it's been a month since I’ve been back and there’s so much in my heart, mind and soul to just pour out. But who is willing to listen and hear me out, when we live such busy lives?

That we often hear, and I’ve often heard I don’t have time, I’m too busy. But that’s not it. It isn’t important, it’s not of value, it isn’t your priority because if something or someone has importance, value, and is a priority, you would give “TIME.”

Time is not more than this repeatable, never-ending cycle that doesn’t stop, doesn’t go backwards.

Time is eternal.

Has no beginning and no end.

For those that believe, those words have meaning.

so if time keeps ticking forward. OUR time is slowly running out.

Sounds sorta ugly when I use those kind of terms, but that’s TRUTH.

As I said before previously,

To be weak is strength because one bares TRUTH.

Time is not in our control, much of what has passed, or what is ahead, we have no control. And when we try to CONTROL, we becomes slaves tied down to our own wants, our own thoughts, and our own DOINGS.

Rather than focus on doing, it is the being that we are called.

we are not called human DOINGS for a reason…

Because we are... 

HUMAN BEINGS.

To be HUMAN. What does that even mean? Why does it even concern me or you?

Because it is in being that we are LIVING.

To die is to live. To live is to love. To love is to be nothing. To be nothing is everything.

To be is driven by our desire to LIVE.

I mean not the living that you see in the movies, in the media, in our society, but the living I’m talking about…

Is LOVING.

Not the loving again you might think of because we are hypnotized by the world around us.

It is a love that is meant for everyone. A love that has no distinction, A love that loses our own needs, A love that means putting others before ourselves. A love that is totally selfless, not selfish. A love that means being the FIRST to love.

Let me tell you what I mean, if you want to understand.

So everyday, every moment, I try not to let a moment slip without loving, somehow, even in the tiniest ways, it’s LOVE. But what I mean is not tiny as in small, but tiniest as the greatest love we can give because being tiny or of nothing, we give everything because we got nothing left.

After a busy day with classes, meetings, encounters, I finally was ready to settle down and rest. Until one of my roommates got home, from the tone of her voice, she was tired but I knew something was up. After talking to her, she had expressed her stress about the million and one things she had to do including feeding herself. I thought to myself, it’s late and I’ve had a long day, but

how can I LOVE ?

Being the FIRST2 LOVE.

Putting OTHERS before myself.

So after our conversation, I went downstairs to cook up something, I looked in my fridge, I had a few ingredients to make a tasty pasta. Note that I don’t like to cook at all, and rarely ever do, and anyone can attest to this. However what is LOVE?

It is greater LOVE,

when it is difficult

when it ain’t easy

when it makes you sacrifice.

So to do something I didn’t particular enjoy doing, to put someone before myself, to be the first to reach out and give LOVE, can you understand the 

definition of LOVE?

There was some leftover, and I packed it for the lunch of tomorrow. But again I met a friend in class who had no lunch. Again I put her before myself, gave what I had, and loved her until I had nothing left.

what makes me SELF-less rather than selfish?

For me, it is because I don’t live for what is seen, but the unseen.

Because LOVE can’t be seen or said.

It is unseen and GIVEN. 

 Live selfLESSly in time, 

not in the past, or the future, 

but the present,

...that is why it is called a gift.  

PORTUGAL!

14^th Stop: Lourinha, Fatima, Peninche, Lisboa, Portugal

Can’t tell you how much I’m in love with this country, it is the place to BE. To be relaxed on the beach, to be enjoying the beautiful warm sun, to be walking along the coastline- that is exactly what I did in Portugal. Just standing on top of a cliff overlooking the clearwater beaches reaching the horizon as the sun set just makes you realize how much greater we were born for. The smaller I felt, the more I realized that there’s “SOMETHING GREATER” to be lived for and to give my life for...

Maria and Elizabeth

I’m looking for something different

There’s more to life than hate and regret

I started a great revolution

Changed my conviction

And now…

I live for something greater

Greater than the world could offer

Discovering Love as the answer

United world let us build together.

So I began my journey of from Day 1 to Day 80 around Europe in 14 countries, 44 towns/cities, with this song, these are some of the lyrics.

 It sums up what I have done,

this revolution of Love started within, to bring a change starts with BEING it... BE the CHANGE you want to see in the world. (Gandhi)

So I’m one girl, one person, but on this journey I’ve LIVED this message of LOVE- many obstacles, but I overcame, my struggles, but I never gave up and many failures, but I restarted again.

This lead to people being curious and asking-the girl from the airport in Paris, the guys on the plane from India, the businessman from Ireland, the guy waiting in line from America, the skateboarders roaming around in London, the man on the train from Austria and all the rest, people wanted to know.

 I never spoke, just lived, just brought love to whomever, whenever, and wherever I could.

Just loved...

that lady who just arrived into the country by understanding

that family that I stayed with by caring

that hyperactive child by listening

that handicapped man by sharing

that elderly carrying her luggage by helping

that sister without something to drink by giving

that brother without something to eat by sacrificing

in each person, no matter background, colour, gender, religion, social class, I saw as not just a simple person, but a brother, a sister, that has the basic understanding and capacity to be loved and to love.

Love is the universal language.

That is why,

I don’t speak it,

iLive it.

Like Gandhi once said,

“My life is my message.”

Likewise, to live is to Love.

Love.

Portuguese grandma:)

It needs no words, but actions.

When I was looking after those children in Germany, would words be of use?

When I was living with a lady from Portugal, would words be of use?

When I was passing by a homeless in Spain, would words be of us?

Elizabeth's grandparents from Poland

When I was living with two elderly people from Poland, would words be of use?

Everything but words had use,

 Love was understood, that’s why...

iSHOWED it.

iSHARED it.

A message does not need to be spoken, but rather only demonstrated through living- through bEING.

“Speak about your message only when you are asked,

 but live so that people ask about your message.”

Love conquers all.

SPAIN!

13^th Stop: Girona, Barcelona, Madrid, Granada, Spain

"Evidence is to the eyes of the spirit
what vision is to the eyes of the body"- (Gaudi)

From Augsburg (near Munich) to Barcelona is definitely not a short journey, so I stopped in Lyon for a night. As usual I stayed with the people of the Focolare Movement (1). It always feels like home, even though I don’t know them beforehand, it feels like family.

It feels like family because love exists. Where there’s love, there’s no differences, no divisions, no barriers, no fears, only unity exists- a fraternity continues. A fraternity or universal brotherhood is not something utopic, or a dream, it is reality, it can be reality wherever mutual love is present. Mutual love is where one treats the other as oneself; places oneself in the other’s shoes; sees not only one’s needs, but the needs of the OTHER. 

Girona

Let me share...

So I guess I’ve shared so many experiences of how I’ve loved, how I’ve tried at least, or how I’ve failed to love, but now I’m going to share of how I’ve BEEN LOVED.

From Lyon to Barcelona, I stopped in Girona (1 hour from Barcelona) to visit a friend I knew from Loppiano (2) from the Focolare (1). I had only about 5.5 hours there since I needed to arrive in Barcelona for the night. As soon as I arrived, I was greeted with a great big hug.  Before I could even explain about my trip, I was handed a sack of food, with drinks, sandwich, banana, and chocolate that my friend had prepared.  Afterwards, he explained to me of how he had planned every minute of our 5.5 hours, visiting beautiful places, biking around, walking along the coast, and going to mass. I didn’t even have to think of where to go, what to see because he had thought it all out. He knew how much I loved going biking, so we ventured out to the beach on bikes. Not to mention that the night before, he pumped the tires and checked that the bikes were 100% safe. At mass, since it was in Spanish and I can comprehend about 33%, he translated so I would have full understanding. While we walked around the coast, he helped me take pictures wherever I wanted without me even asking. As the day in Girona finished, he brought me to the train station and wanted to wait until my departure but I was going to be alright waiting myself.

John and I

Isn’t that LOVE?

On my trip to Barcelona, I only found a place to stay because my friend from Girona phoned up and helped me ask somebody he knew also from the Focolare (1). That somebody offered her place to me for however long I wanted to stay. As soon as I arrived after a long long journey to Barcelona, she had the bed ready, with fresh towels on top. Before telling me where everything was around the house for me to use, she offered a glass of water to drink, some delicious peaches to eat, and a couch to relax for a second and watch some soccer “football” action. The next day, she had stayed at home, while I went around the city, and when I arrived, food was ready for me. Before I left to Madrid, she went out to buy me a few traditional foods from Barcelona, accompanied me to the station, and made sure I was 100% okay before we waved goodbye.

me and Concita

Is that LOVE?

While I waited for my train to Madrid, I saw a young men also waiting for his train, and asked if he had eaten anything. I was given so much food from the lady I stayed with, I couldn’t stop but give what I had been given. As I shared with him my sandwich, he told me stories of his country-Sierra Leone.

After another tiring journey, lots of waiting, and endless sweating, I arrived at another place of the Focolare Movement (1), this time in Madrid. I don’t want to repeat, but exactly the LOVE i experienced in Girona, Barcelona, I felt it in Madrid.

On the first night, me and my friend went to a concert- Gen Rosso-international band of the Focolare Movement (1). We were nervous about the train times to get back to our place of stay. As soon as we arrived at the concert, a friend I knew told us that we could go in her car back to where I was going to stay even before I asked.

 Love makes miracles happen.

Even though we arrived back to our place close to 1 in the morning, the lady we stayed with made sure we were fed, comfortable, showered before she went to bed. When we missed our bus, she drove us to the train station. When we wanted to go to a place, she told us right away how to get there, what bus to take, and checked the train schedules. Whenever I was at home, she would always ask if I needed something to eat, offered amazing Spanish food to try, and made me feel so at home.

Is that LOVE?

me and Laura

When I went to Granada, I didn’t have a place to stay and there again, the Focolare family offered their place for me to stay. I left having slept on a bed with ironed sheets, with a sack full of food, and feeling loved to the max. I didn’t know these people the day before, but they’re like family now.

Is that LOVE?

In Girona, Barcelona, Madrid, and Granada the same experience of Love, this care, this understanding, this giving, this sharing, this joy, this happiness, I was so truly LOVED.

This isn’t an utopia, it is real, I lived it in each of the 14 countries, I felt it in each of the 44 cities, I experienced it in each of the 80 days- this universal brotherhood, this fraternity that we are all part of one HUMAN FAMILY.

But one ingredient is needed- LOVE.

So all my experiences of how I’ve tried to love, isn’t just my experience, isn’t just my conviction, isn’t just my revolution.

It is of many, of thousands, of millions that LOVE,

that gives rather than takes,

that shares rather than divides,

that sacrifices rather than indulges,

that becomes selfless rather than selfish.

Me and my bro

We are the New Generation

we live for SOMETHING GREATER-
to bring LOVE to the world

we are in the world but not OF the world.

one of US, BEAU

 (1) Focolare Movement: an international movement present in 182 nations aiming towards an universal brotherhood and fraternity through the way of “Love” and putting the words of the Gospel into practice.

(2) Loppiano: place where I stayed 9 months in Italy to live with people from around the world to learn about other cultures, religions, backgrounds, and more so learning about myself. 

AUSTRIA-GERMANY!

12^th Stop: Vienna, Austria; Augsburg (near Munich), Germany

Vienna, Austria

A short stop for 5 hours in Vienna, Austria, I traveled from Brno, Czech  in the morning (2 hour train ride). I don’t think I have that much to say about the city since I was only there for a few hours. It is definitely a very rich city, with endless and I mean endless museums, and men dressed like Mozart. The city just isn’t much my type I would say and I saw a postcard which was quite hilarious, “I spent so much money in Vienna, that I got you half a postcard.” The postcard was half-blank. I on the other hand, spent nothing, I had some bread from the other day which I ate with some cream cheese-how delicious! I really wanted to try a Weiner Schnitzel of Vienna, breaded chicken burger, but I sacrificed since I wanted to finish the bread that was leftover. Next year when I come back to Europe, I’ll definitely pass by another city in Austria, more for the nature, mountains and PEOPLE.

Augsburg, Germany

After a few hours, I was off again this time to Augsburg for a week, city close to Munich, to another community like Loppiano (1) called “Ottmaring.” They were offering a children’s program to the local town and I thought to go. 

Obviously I was not to participate, but to help, to give my time, share my talents, and LOVE. Sounds ironic because those who know me, know how much I LOVE kids. Not really much because you need a LOT of patience-A LOT. KIDS are definitely my weakness, in a literal sense, and patience on the other hand, is the greatest of all my weaknesses. Patience is a virtue, and I definitely learned to have it.

Let me share an experience...

So first off, I don’t speak any Germany, NA-DA, and the kids all speak GERMAN. That is definitely a weakness, but words have no meaning, without actions, so since I couldn’t speak, I tried to “ACT.” In the tiniest ways, I tried to help them hold their belongings, bring them their snacks, play their games, sing their songs , laugh at their jokes, and listen to their stories (without understanding anything), and just BE like one of them.

“To place myself in their shoes, and treat them like they want to be treated, and not how I want to treat them.” Big difference there. Not the “ME, or the I,” but “THEM, the OTHER.”

In particular, on the 2^nd and 3^rd day I stayed with a 13 year-old girl named Marie who has down syndrome. This is where my experience of patience begins. She was participating in all the activities with such enthusiasm, and joy; she always smiled, always laughed, and always talked. She definitely brought back the memory of Annie (2) as she expressed such a care-free attitude- not worrying about little things. When she saw a wall full of crawling ants, there was not a drop of disgust, or flicker of fear.

me and Marie

In the afternoon, she started to get tired and wanted to do her own thing. She started with running around, searching for different toys to play with, and ended up going into a cabin house. I was chasing her, trying to play along and trying to get her back into the activities with my group of 5 children. However, she had another agenda. I patiently waited and waited and waited, and... WAITED more to see what she wanted to do. She finally settled playing in the sandbox, happily digging away and building with her imagination. At first, I was just watching her and waiting patiently in hope that she would want to come back with the group. I asked and asked many times, but stopped myself to place myself in her shoes. She is tired and wants to play with the sand. 

How would she want to be treated in this moment?

Noemi and Marie

So I started to play her game, dig away at the sand, and listen to her speak endlessly about something I didn’t understand at all. After a good hour, I finally was able to persuade her to join the group once again. No more words to describe the patience it took to be with her, to understand her, to wait for her, to play along, and to place “myself in her shoes.”

Not only did I learn to have patience and to be handicapped in speaking, but understood and lived these words I wrote...

To be weak means strength because one bares truth.

Words hold this 

“truth” only once spoken by 

ACTION.

(Augsburg) me and the girls helping with the children's program

JUMP! Life is what you make of it.

(1) Loppiano: place where I stayed 9 months in Italy to live with people from around the world to learn about other cultures, religions, backgrounds, and more so learning about myself. 

(2) Annie: my friend-more like a sister, whom I helped for a year who is handicapped.

CZECH REPUBLIC!

11^th Stop: Prague, Brno, Czech Republic

from the top of the castle

In the beginning of my journey, I wasn’t even planning on going to Prague, but since I had some extra time and my eurail pass allowed for it, I went. In one day, from Paderborn, to Berlin 5 hours, toured around, took some pictures, stood in the midst of one of the most important cities during the World Wars, then to Prague another 5 hours, I arrived at night. Sat on the train with 2 French boys and a girl from Czech in one cabin, we shared with one another a little bit of our own culture. The girl from Czech was telling me how the people of Czech really care about the appearance of the city. So the next morning, with enough light of the day, my eyes were amazed at how her words held truth- the buildings, the architecture, the churches, the castle are all so beautiful. Even its name Prague sounds prestigious.

me and Maruska (Prague)

But like always, those buildings will remain, maybe change their colour, but it’s always the people I love to encounter. I toured around Prague with a local, a girl also from the Focolare Movement (2), who knew many people I knew back at Loppiano (1) how the world is so small, and being connected by 6 steps is so very true. So speaking of Loppiano, I also visited another one of these communities but in Czech Republic.

Although I had traveled so many hours the day before, my feet were sore, my throat was acting strange, but my heart was ready. Ready to help others, share with others, serve others, and most of all LOVE others -a group of handicapped adults from Italy who were staying at the community for a few days. And again my Italian really helped as I imitated their Italian accent and pretended I’ve learned Italian for years. As soon as I saw them, I greeted them like I would to anybody, but with extra attention to speaking clearly so that they would understand. This is definitely something I learned from being with Annie, my friend-more like a sister, whom I helped and is also handicapped. Even though they are physically or mentally disabled, they want to be treated just like US, just like anybody else. But it is so easy to distinguish them, to outcast them in society, just because they may do things slightly slower with more difficulty, or process thoughts and ideas a little longer. As I was serving them drinks, or giving them napkins, or washing the dishes for them, I admired how much strength they had to give always this joy of being grateful for what they have even through their difficulty. I guess everyone has a difficulty, a struggle, an obstacle, a suffering, but...

NOI (Italian), US

it makes us grow, 

makes us STRONGER, 

makes us become

who we are.

That depends on US, 

whether  we desire to embrace our weaknesses, to change despite the lack of security and to overcome the fear of past failures.

These individuals, handicapped of their ability to think, to speak, to do, to walk, to eat and all the “normalities” that we take for granted are witnesses.

Examples of where true strength lies because...

To be weak means strength because one bares truth.

SO BE WEAK.

What do you seek?

In Truth we SEEK.

at Brno (2nd largest city in Czech)



(1) Loppiano: place where I stayed 9 months taking a year off of school in Italy to live with people from around the world to learn about other cultures, religions, backgrounds, and more so learning about myself.

(2) Focolare Movement: an international movement present in 182 nations aiming towards an universal brotherhood and fraternity through the way of “Love” and putting the words of the Gospel into practice.