A little Change

Today got off to a very chilly and wet start. Today was our first day in the cemetery, and today was our first book discussion. After some delay in getting into the cemetery, we got an impressive tour from the man who runs the whole operation. After our hour long tour, we got to work clearing a section of the cemetery. Some pulled weeds and cleared brush, others carted that plant matter to the awaiting fires, and other carefully maintained the fires. My duty was the first. While I was raking up dead leaves behind a particularly stubborn log, Drew came over and stated that he thought he'd try raking as he hadn't done that yet. I quickly, sarcastically, remarked "Oh, you'll love it! It'll change your world!" His response took me a moment to process. He replied, "That's what I'm hoping." It was that simple response that I found so profound. Simple and honest, it revealed truths to me I found embarrassing not to have thought before. That reply should have been obvious to me, especially after what we learned on the tour. As it turns out the efforts that have been carried out through this mission have attracted a lot of attention, and, consequently, brought a lot of people closer to their long lost loved ones. The man who primarily runs the cemetery gave us our extensive tour because he now had a few personal stories of people coming to the cemetery and finding their family member's formally buried grave.
He also told us that the work being done here has attracted the attention of the Polish government and the EU, and they are now looking into funding, at least some of the restoration, partially due to the UEFA EURO championship being held in Poland in 2012. It is incredible to be a part of a simple mission that has become such a large movement. To know that I will have played a part, small as it may be, in something so phenomenally powerful, but more importantly good, is something I have yet to completely grasp. With this new found realization, I immediately got back to work!
It was revealed to our group that we may in fact work beyond noon, for more than a total of three hours. I was elated with this, as I knew that our potential level of accomplishment would increase dramatically. Today, however, we did not end up working much past noon on account of constant and heavy rain. When we got back to the Hostel we had a short clean-up break and then gathered to discuss J.T. Gross's Neighbors. Our discussion was very interesting and it seemed as though everyone had something insightful to say. It left me thinking about the human tragedy that occurred in that book, how someone can be driven to kill another so viciously. It also left me thinking of solutions. Tomorrow will be another day of work, probably harder than today, but I will gladly settle for raking, because it is my hope to change to world.