“We know the future will outlast all of us, but I believe that all of us will live on in the future we make.” -Ted Kennedy

By the time anyone reads this I'll be flying over the Pichincha volcano of the Andes mountains and landing in Quito, Ecuador. The past few months have been, what can best be described as an El Niño hitting my life. I've packed up shop, said my goodbyes, and am officially following one of my many dreams.

This is the perfect opportunity for me to come clean on a few things. I'll be off the grid for a couple of days and by the time you talk to me next you'll have forgotten what I'm about to say. First and foremost, I am not a saint as evidenced by the extremely excessive partying I partook in over the past two months.  Next, I have about as much courage as the Cowardly Lion when he first met Dorothy. Lastly,  any talk of my being noble is absolutely out of the question. I bring up these traits now because they are all things that were said to me in the last week or so and all three of which made me feel uncharacteristically uncomfortable. Although I may be taking a different path than some I really am no different than any of you.

Which leads me to my next task, creating a manifesto of sorts: (note the fancy name for  what will essentially be a list)
1) I am a detrimental dreamer. If I am not careful I will end up pulling a Gatsby and killing the dream instead of living in it. Luckily, I've read the book enough and experienced the not so glamorous end of a few dreams that I have finally found ways to live in the moment each and every day. So as I move into this next year I hope to take the detriment out of detrimental dreamer and live the dream while creating new ones.
2) I am also an idealist. Hence, one of my favorite websites and procrastination tools is idealist.org. Don't confuse idealism with being a dreamer. They are different. These are  the ideas that I believe in and will guide all (well most) of my actions for the next 365 days, if not more:

• Rousseau's concept that all people are good people when they are born. It's a matter of perspective really. It's much like the concept innocent until proven guilty.
  
• Lock's natural rights: life, liberty and property. Included in this is the right for every person to have access to an education, especially young girls.
  
• The sociological notion that humans are social beings. If you take humans out of their societies or their cultures you take away their humanity and return them to their animalistic roots (this is also closely associated with Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs). Remember, "It takes a village..."
  

I'll stop there and let you mull those over for now. If you haven't figured it out yet these are the underlying reasons for my move to Ecuador. I know better than to say that I'll be saving the world on this trip, that is not what I ascribe to. Rather I'll be meeting new "good" people, providing a few with some knowledge of the English language, and taking part in a society and culture different than my own.

And you better darn well believe that I'll be bringing thoughts and memories of all my family and friends along with me for the ride.