Annuit Coeptis

"This is the source of our confidence, the knowledge that God calls on us
to shape an uncertain destiny." – President Barack Obama, Inaugural Address

http://www.greatseal.com/mottoes/coeptis.html

A personal story as it relates to yesterday's comment about where the beginning begins and where the end ends...When I was a Peace Corps Volunteer, at the last minute I was asked to do the morning commencement on the first day of our training.
African students were there to help us practice our skills, and we followed a usual school day for them which included a morning commencement. What I did was completely unrehearsed. The group I was with, all brand new Peace Corps Recruits, drove up country (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sierra_Leone) soon right after a 12 hour plane ride, and we all got to bed around 2am...new country, new everything...I was really jet lagged, tired, discombobulated...nonetheless...I came up with something that would become part of my Peace Corps Legacy.

Imagine 75 Peace Corps Volunteers standing around me and in front of about 400 bright shining faces...the boys with white shirts and tan shorts, and the girls in blue dresses and white tops...all standing underneath a thatched roof while it was teeming down rain. It was the rainy season. Incidentally, their weather is the weather we get in the form of hurricanes.

I said good morning in English and they all said good morning back to me so thunderously, in English, but in a very flavorful accent I never heard before.

I began by telling them the story about the Little Engine That Could...you know the story...so I'll skip ahead...but one of the memorable parts of this story is when the Engine was climbing the hill...going up up up and up and struggling....and not making it...trying and trying again...I'll never forget how all 400 students were so physically and emotionally involved with the Engine. They all became the Engine. And so did I. Imagine...all 400 of the them chugging wildly, dramatically...following me. And I looked behind me and the Peace Corps Volunteers were chugging too!

We ALL motioned our arms...we were the Engine chugging up the hill. With strenuous dramatic effort, climbing...climbing....trying...groaning...leaning back as if climbing the hill...

Watching them all with my sleep deprived eyes was absolutely amazing, but as amazing as this was, this is NOT the most amazing part of the story...for me.

Two years later...I was very sad because I was in a taxi on my way to the Freetown airport, on my way back home, (actually I was headed to Europe)...anyway my 2 year tour of duty as a Peace Corps Volunteer had ended.

It was long a trip up country, about 8 hours, by taxi. Lot of stops on the way as well. I was stationed in Segbwema, which is almost as far East as one could go.

When we reached Njala, the town where we trained 2 years past, there were vendors along the road, along with people waiting for their rides, other taxis...it was very busy stop...but in the corner of my eye I saw a little boy moving his arms. Bent at the elbows. Going slow, then picking up speed as he moved his arms back and forth.

He was smiling at me and walking towards me as he moved his arms. The little boy was about 75 yards from me. At the time I thought it was odd what he was doing, but I did not make any connection. Before the boy reached the taxi the driver returned and we drove off. I watched as the boy continued moving his arms until the dust obscured him from my view.

Only when I was an hour away from Njala junction did I remember the morning commencement and the little Engine That Could.