I've found an online home.

I'm so thankful for what I have stumbled upon. I feel like I've been searching for Gaia for a long time, and here I've found it! I'm a poor teenager who needs money for college, so as I was looking through scholarships, I found the Gaia Community Scholarship. When I read about what the site was about, I got super excited. And I'll tell you why!

This past year, I wrote an essay about something small that changed my life for my English class. My instructor told us we couldn't pick anything obvious like 9/11 or when a loved one died. Something small that wouldn't necessarily mean anything to others.  It was in writing this paper that I found my passion for changing the world.

It all started with a summer camp I went to a couple years ago. It was sponsored by the American Cancer Society, the same organization that does Relay for Life. They handed out awards at the end of the camp, depending on what you did throughout the camp week. Automatically when they announced they were doing that, I thought to myself, "Dang it! Why didn't you think about that? If I had known that I would have been extra good and participated more whole-heartedly." Stupid thought, huh? Selfish, self-centered, ridiculous. Thoughts like this told me that I was doing all this stuff for the wrong reasons.

I saw my friends go up for "Most Charismatic," "Most infectious laugh," "Best attitude." I started to beat myself up for not being good enough and how I could have been more bold then and I should have spoken up more during discussions. Then my name was called. I was shocked, because it was from the board member I admired most.

At the camp, we had a mini-Relay for Life, and she talked about how she had a rare form of cancer running in their family, and how when she was 16 she had to take care of her sisters while her mom was in the hospital. She spoke of her struggle, and I was really inspired by her story. But her gift to me wasn't her story. It was a huge, extra-extra-large T-shirt she had tie-dyed and painted with bright yellow and pinks. On it was written, "I'm gonna change the world!" I was shocked. How did I end up being most likely to change the world when I didn't try to get anyone's attention the entire camp?

I have that shirt up on my wall now as a constant reminder to myself, a gift from a woman I have never seen again. But I am eternally thankful for it. I am also thankful for my English instructor who assigned the essay that helped me delve into what is really important to me.

I've been looking for a place to relax, to talk about changing things for a long time. I think I have found it in Gaia. I am so excited to explore this online community further, and to talk with others with my same passions.

Please! Talk to me. What was the event that triggered your world-changing desires?