Why I’m Here
Written By: Thomas Gibbons
Regardless of your skin color, nationality, gender, religion, or circumstances, we all come into this world with one question we spend our lives trying to answer:
Why am I here??
I’ve only spent nineteen years writing the early pages of my story, but my recent experience volunteering with GIVE has brought me closer to answering that question than ever before.
🌟You start to understand life when you see groups of children joyfully helping to build the school they’ll one day attend.
🌟You understand it a little more when you form deep connections with people you don’t even share a language with—yet still laugh, work, and grow together for a common, beautiful purpose.
🌟You feel it when you’re surrounded by people who hold onto happiness like it’s the only thing they have, and somehow, it’s more than enough.
🌟You feel it again when strangers from around the world become family, united by the hope of making a difference.
🌟You get even closer when you watch the stars fade as the sun slowly climbs over the horizon, while you push yourself toward the roof of Africa, step by step on Mount Kilimanjaro.
🌟You feel it in the moments that bring you to tears, not out of sadness, but from the overwhelming joy of truly feeling alive.
I’m only nineteen. I don’t have everything figured out, and maybe I never will.
But GIVE, thank you.
Thank you for some of the greatest lessons I’ve learned so far. Thank you for the unforgettable experiences that will stay with me for the rest of my life. And thank you for helping me begin to understand why I am here.
