1st Work Day: Finding fulfillment in Exhaustion (Puppies sure help!)

 Today we went to the worksite for the first time, after a rain day we had yesterday (it was the 2nd rain day ever to occur for Trinity trips, as we were told). After pushing the car out of a muddy road and adding inches of mud to give our shoes that "platform heels aesthetic", we used said "platform heel" shoes to walk up to the worksite. The frustrations faded away, however, as soon as Eduardo called everyone to meet the family and when Myerna and Ulysses were saying how much they appreciate everyone's work. Eduardo was absolutely right; if their kids have to walk in these muddy roads to school everyday, I cannot complain about my muddy shoes. As a human being, I cannot think I deserve better, less muddy shoes -when another human being who is much younger than me, cannot ask for the same thing; who's going to make it happen?

This is the exhaustion I am feeling -not from building walls, but from where humanity stands today. The audacity many people have to downright ignore structural inequalities, saying the ones in need should just "work harder" because they are "lazy". The audacity many have to think they deserve better and others do not. For what reason? Because they are less educated? Not white? Not Christians (or overly Christians)?

I do not have the audacity to say I am better than Myerna or Ulysses. My societal status or education does not give me superiority in any way, because I am not them. It takes more than just seeing yourself in someone else's shoes -you need to be born in their shoes to fully understand. You can't. You never can. 

The fulfillment came from the progress we made. The walls are rising up; we poured the cement. I was covered in mud and cement by the end of it. I was wondering at that time, what it would be like to leave college, leave my dreams of joining academia, and start working in construction? What if I was forced to? Will my prior "status" give me any more benefit than my coworker who never went to college? 

I am not to decide who is more righteous or more intelligent between the rich and poor; it is not my place, nor should it be for anyone else to decide. But maybe these little pups can be the judge... 

-Aaron Huq