Tomorrow I begin my job working at a primary school here in Georgetown. Although I know very little about what the job will entail, I am excited to begin a new journey. I’ve been thinking over the past few days about what exactly it is I’m doing here in this strange, sweaty city on a continent where I know almost no one. Then, I came across this quote, and I remembered what I’ve known all my life. This is why I’m here:

“A human being is a part of the whole called the “universe,” a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of…consciousness. The delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in all its beauty. Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but the striving for such achievement is it itself part of the liberation and a foundation for inner security.”

-Albert Einstein