Submitted by Tyler Phommachanh on the 2022 winter session program in Hawaii sponsored by the Joseph R. Biden, Jr. School of Public Policy and Administration…
They say that a picture is worth a thousand words, and a picture is worth a million. I believe that a memory is immeasurable. Throughout our entire journey we’ve seen amazing places and met a large variety of people. We’ve been educated and engaged to absorb all of the information that we’re given from every side of the story. We learned to dig deeper and to understand more than just the information given out to us. Throughout it all, we learned so much that every single person on this program has come out with a changed perspective.
Yet.
When we got to the summit of Haleakala, and when I finally had the chance to sit down and reflect upon our entire program, I think we realized that the end was indeed near. The three weeks of Hawaii had blown by in a flash. We did so much, but at the same time we did so little. We all sat there gazing into the endless ocean of clouds and a gentle sun that we all came onto one single detail that we had all missed when we were climbing the mountain. The pictures we take may last a lifetime, but the bonds we make last forever. We may forget the places we visit or the dangerous roads that we traveled. But in the end, we have each other. Our bonds are what hold us together as people and they drive us into the future. Thankfully, we have our memories to remind us of where those bonds began.