The Power of a Legacy

Today was the announcing of the Tawjihi examination scores. This morning came with fireworks, horns honking, people driving all around town celebrating their scores and the fact that its OVER! In Jordan after the 12th year, students spend hours studying and preparing for the tawjihi. This exam and the score they get will determine their entire future. In the US, we can pick our own major and what we want to study. Here, it is predetermined what students will study in University based on their exam scores. Talk about pressure!!!!

Little known fact: I have a Masters. In Intercultural Studies with a Middle Eastern emphasis to be more specific. While I am proud of it, it perhaps wasn't the degree that I always intended to get. I don't see the point in advertising the fact that I have one. Some find it intimidating, others don't truly understand the amount of work that went into it, but mostly it doesn't make me better or change who I am because I have it. I completed it for my own benefit and those I planned to eventually work with, to further expand my knowledge on the world and the Middle Eastern Culture. Besides a bunch of new knowledge jammed in my head, having my MA hasn't really changed my life, until I came to Jordan. All of a sudden I found myself in a culture that values education and the hard work that goes into it. I have never been more thankful for my degree than I have been in these last few months. It has opened countless doors and discussion especially with my women students. They always ask me if I will continue on to my Ph.D to which I respond not for a while, I need a break!

I talked to a girl the other night who had just finished her MA three days ago in digital media. She makes documentaries, she's made 32 of them so far. She's my age. Her sister is just as brilliant and teaches computer to high school students. I desire to be an example to the women in my life; to challenge the social stigma that women must only be caretakers of families, to pursue further education, to gain knowledge and worldly experience. But I have found in living here, these women have influenced me more than I have them. They are brilliant women, fighting social norms in remaining unmarried, pursuing their degrees, desiring to master the English language, and ultimately change the world. It's these women that are the unstoppable ones. These women are the future leaders, the ones that will push on walls and see them start to crumble. I compare my life with theirs and think, I have it easy. At what price did my education come? A few thousand dollars in debt perhaps. But at what price did theirs come? While their education is ultimately respected in this culture, they are still 29 and unmarried. You think being 29 and not married in the US is bad...

The potential in these women, the things that they are already doing, the greater things they could do....

Not just an impact, A LEGACY.

And so a thought I've been contemplating..not a new idea but it has taken on a new reality lately: Throughout my life I have come in CONTACT with hundreds of people, perhaps I have IMPACTED some of them, but what LEGACY am I leaving?

Legacies are powerful things in this world and shape the beliefs of generations and nations for years to come. The people that I am impacting now could become that legacy for the future. It's a powerful thought....the people that God places in your life are not a mistake. The influence you make on others are not random acts, they are purposeful, that can lead to amazing world changing legacies. I've seen it here; because of one person, people and cities have been changed forever. Powerful.