Personal Narrative: Growing Up In The Wine Country

Growing up in the Napa Valley, it’s hard to believe that some people have a truly difficult life. It is hard to imagine that everyone’s biggest worry is not “who is going to ask me to homecoming.” And even if one knows about people around the world that are starving or don’t have clean water, it is difficult to relate to the problem when clean water is all around. It is difficult to empathize with the struggles of other nations when no personal connection can be made. Many of my friends will look at the pictures or watch the news and see the problems around the world; however, what they see does not equate to the actual extent of the problem. The Wine Country is a beautiful, affluent place that leads little to no reason to believe the world

Many of the citizens of the western world have never had to worry about whether or not there will be food on the dinner table at dinner time, or if the water they drink is going to result in a death sentence instead of simple hydration. Until my sophomore year of highschool, I too, shared this mentality. “It is a problem but it isn’t my problem” I always thought; as long as I wasn’t the one it affected, I would sympathize with the struggling people and go on with my life. I was guilty of these thoughts and passive actions until my visit to Nicaragua for 2 weeks. I was excited to make a difference in the world. From that short adventure I learned that my life--no matter how bad a day I may have--is better than the lives of most and I need to be thankful everyday for all my opportunities, that the littlest acts of kindness can go a long way, and that all the problems of the world are everyone’s problems and affect everyone because we are all world

They didn’t understand why I would go to my elementary school everyday to educate the kids and collect their donations. They didn’t understand why I would go out of my way to help people I barely knew at school. And they didn’t understand why I was all of the sudden so concerned about what is happening outside our friend group, town, state, or country. They were weirded out by my behavior, and I was frustrated with their narrow mindedness. The mindset of many of my peers and citizens of industrialized countries seemed appalling to me after having witnessed the less fortunate areas of the world. It was as if I had a revolution and in the words of Kuhn, I “had been suddenly transported to another planet where familiar objects are seen in a different light and are joined by unfamiliar ones as well”(Kuhn 111 ). I knew I was the same person, but the way I saw the world was like a 360 degree turn around. I do admit to getting caught up in myself, my materialistic wants, and my immediate surroundings every now and then; but, it has become a temporary lapse in character whereas before my trip that behavior qualified as my whole character. I started to see the poverty and destitution, the wars and political unrest all around the world and instead of pretending it isn’t there I decided to take action I am dedicating my life to helping as many