The Moment I realized I wasn’t Special
I wrote this post after reading Anthony Xavier’s post embedded above.
What happened?
A few years ago, I was a proud medical student. All through my first three years I didn’t pay attention to anything else and was completely committed to learning medicine.
First in my family to go into medical school, it was a great honor to represent my family and community.
And I did pretty well.
After my third year, I decided to go on a student exchange.
Honestly I do not know what prompted me, I just knew I wanted to travel for the long holiday.
So I contacted AIESEC and we began looking for places to match, my first choice was Europe and I wanted something related to health.
Europe didn’t work out, bringing about much disappointment. My dada knew how much I wanted to travel and was always checking up on me in that period.
One day, the lady responsible for helping me find a match, told me she had found something great it was in Asia. It was an opportunity in China to work with autistic children. I didn’t need to speak Chinese, just have a passion for children.
And I jumped on it.
China was far and my budget had been for Europe not Asia.
But I,
I have the best father in the world. When I told him about the opportunity he didn’t discourage me one bit, he said to go ahead.
And go ahead I did, within two weeks ,I was on my way to China.
China Happened
At the airport I got picked up by an AISECER, he was about 18 years old.
And then I met with the local Exchange Committee all of them younger than I was.
And they were so organized and so in control.
I had read about China being a communist country and how the people’s freedom was restricted but that wasn’t what I saw in the country.
I saw a resourceful, generous and open people.
It gets more intimidating, I finally met the proprietress of the school for the autistic children and worked with her for the next five weeks.
Great lady. She was only in her mid to late twenties.
The school was located in a village. It had to be a village becuase I had to learn how to use chopsticks and eat local Chinese food as there were no other alternatives.
I couldn’t find spoons in the stores, I couldn’t find bread nor any western snacks.
Back to this proprietress, she was really laid back but had a great and well thought out plan for this community school.
And that was when it hit me — this young lady was serving the world, she was meeting a need in her community.
She was just starting out, but she saw that these special children had no where for them and she filled that space.
For the first time I questioned my purpose and why I was so proud to be studying medicine.
These young people seemed to be doing something much greater and admirable.
And they weren’t in it for the money.
They were all volunteers.
They could be hanging with friends and partying but they volunteered to help foreigners settle into the program and volunteered to help this school make their curriculum more exciting.
And for this proprietress, It doesn’t matter if she spoke English or not, it doesn’t matter if she went to university or not, it doesn’t matter if her government is restrictive or not.
She was playing her own part.
She was meeting a dire need in her community.
I’ve never felt more in awe of a person before then.
What is Life’s Purpose?
We don’t need to do great things.
You don’t need to discover electricity.
All you need to do in life is meet a need.
Meet a need at home.
Meet a need in your class.
Meet a need on the street.
Meet a need on the bus.
If your talent can meet a need, then use it for that.
I can tell you that my trip to China changed my life.
After that trip I became a frog that had jumped out of the bottom of the well.
The world became vast for me, holding more possibilities that I previously thought.
After that trip I began to write, I travelled some more.
I joint my local AIESEC group and became a volunteer myself, helping others travel and gain experiences as I did.
My grades dropped, but it led me away from the path of being stuck with just Medicine.
Before China my knowledge of the world and other topics were quite limited, I found out that if it the conversation wasn’t centered around medicine I had nothing to contribute.
Now it’s different, my circle and acquaintances are more than just science.
I have learnt a lot and still learning.
My trip to China spearheaded my writing.
First the student organization had me write about my experience in the university magazine and then I started a travel blog.
And I’m still writing till today. It’s been 11 years.
Out there, there’s someone younger, less privileged with less resources meeting needs and having no complaints.
Whenever in doubt about life’s purpose, find a way to meet a need.
The two most important days in life are the day you are born and the day you find out why ~Mark Twain
Hello, I’m Nguper, I write about life lessons, philosophy and faith here on medium. I also write a weekly health newsletter at https://halexhearty.substack.com
