Finding our purpose is one of life’s paramount challenges. Some feel naturally drawn to a greater calling, while some must spend years nurturing their interests and attributes until eventually they find the place where they belong.
Despite this journey of self-discovery being something especially ordinary that each and every one of us go through, there’s still something beyond ordinary in the individual stories. In order to fully recognize our humanity, we must value the stories of those who are extra ordinary.
We approached a complete stranger and asked them to tell us their story. Some are lucky enough to be recognised for their efforts. These are the stories of the rest of us.
Daniel Carrillo, a Junior at the University of Wyoming, found himself alone in the Thunder Basin room of the Wyoming Union last Thursday. He was expecting a group to be there.
“There have been times where I’ve been asking myself like, ‘what am I here for,’ or, ‘what do I want to do,” Daniel later said. “I’m still figuring that out.”
In one of his classes he had received a paper that read “Give Volunteers: Travel with Purpose.” This intrigued him. What purpose could he find?
“I didn’t really have that, like, real passion about something when I was little, or at least that I remember,” Daniel said.
“I remember I wanted to be everything at one point, you know? It’s just kind of cool to be a fireman, firefighters, or a policeman, a mechanic as well. But nothing I was really dedicated or super excited about.”
As 3:30 rolled around, despite him being the only one in attendance, a representative from the Give Program began the scheduled Informative session. Something, beyond just the representative, spoke to Daniel.
“That’s my plan, and my true goal,” Daniel said, “to travel after school. Because obviously, as a college kid, you know, you’re pretty broke, so you can’t really do anything, but they seem like an organization that can really help me with that.”
Beyond traveling, Daniel has another major ambition that he feels the Give Program may be able to help him achieve– to emulate his mother’s generosity and kindness.
“My mom was the one that really got me that spark, I’m saying, to help other people. The way she talks even, I could feel that. I could feel that passion,” Daniel said.
“I even called her yesterday, and I told her, ‘Yo, they were talking about this Give Program. And as soon as they talked about helping other people, it reminded me of you.’”
We all have someone who inspires us to do better, be better. Ordinary people can impact our lives in ways we never thought possible. Daniel lovingly recounted a story about his mom, Lucia Carrillo, from when they lived in Mexico, which has impacted him.
“My mom went to these other kids that she saw on the street, and she noticed their shoes were all torn up, worn out, and had holes.”
“We had couple of pair of shoes that were brand new basically, we only used them a couple times. She got those shoes that we didn’t use, and she gave them to them for Christmas.”
“The kids, they were super happy that she brought those shoes, and they even asked her, ‘are you Santa Claus’ and stuff like that, you know? And that’s definitely the emotion that really captured me.”
This recent experience awakened a realization within Daniel.
“I’m gonna be honest with you, I’ve never really thought of myself as someone helping other people, but the fact that, you know, what we talked about about my mom, and these opportunities– it just feels right.”
“The way that I look at things is that things happen for a reason. So, if I saw this opportunity, if it popped up, then I kind of see it as a sign, in a way, that maybe you should try this. Maybe this is why you’re here.”
