TO SERVE

As a teenager, my father always said to me, "to truly serve yourself, you must serve others" and I hated hearing that because I don’t like responsibilities. Now, with age, I see his point. Servitude forges mastery, and there is greatness is mastery. My father volunteered to clean the church alone every weekend. He would get off work to do that. I watched him do this despite his status and career within the community, but he did so with pride. That was servitude, but to something bigger than us all. I am not a Christian, and I do not see God in church. I see God in humanity, in the day to day, in the love we share as a collective, in animals, in nature, in the birds of the sky. My servitude is different from my father’s, but inspired by it nonetheless. I have chosen to serve man and those with less privilege. I will always serve the next man in all ways that I can. From kindness, to wisdom, to knowledge, to teaching, etc. It is one of my Karmas in this life. To serve, to teach, to inspire, to create, to help. Most of all, it is to love both man and animals alike, as we are after all, cut from the same cloth. Servitude forges discipline of self, and discipline creates mastery. To do even when you do not feel up to it, because you have signed an unwritten contract.

— Tolú