There’s just something about a good sunrise…

Perhaps it’s the fresh stillness of a new morning, or the sparkling of the earth as the sunlight gradually cascades across the landscape. Whatever it is, there’s something powerful about a sunrise that makes early morning the most serene and life-giving time of the day for me. Being alone, if only for a short while, with nothing but my thoughts and the rising sun leaves me centered and at peace, free from the burdens of yesterday to meet whatever today has to bring. Whether it’s from the breathtaking countryside of Kenya’s Rift Valley, or from atop a deserted Bascom Hill where the silence is broken only by the sounds of my own footsteps and the singing of the birds, the sight of the sun as it awakens the world is always awe inspiring. It is therefore with great anticipation that I look forward to witnessing this phenomenon from… India!
Indeed, I’m packing my bags and heading off to Pune, India for eight extraordinary weeks in which I will have the opportunity to explore the nation that introduced the world to Bollywood, Ghandi, and one of my favorite poets and educational philosophers (why yes, I do in fact have favorite educational philosophers) Rabindranath Tagore. These eight weeks will include an seminar on contemporary India, a six week internship, and two months of living with a gracious family in Pune through a homestay arrangement.
Pune has so much to teach me not only about India, but about myself and I am so eager to leap at the opportunity to learn. When Rabindranath Tagore was in America in 1917, he lectured that, “the highest education is that which does not merely give us information but makes our life in harmony with all existence.” Such harmony was deeply embedded in his philosophy, which stressed the educational importance of fostering an international understanding that encourages the student to develop empathy and love for all humanity. I look forward to experiencing such an educational opportunity during my time in India. I chose this program largely because I believe that the internship and homestay components will enhance this multicultural aspect of education and bring me closer to the society in which I am living. I cannot wait to personally witness the beauty of Hindu devotion and what it will prompt in my own spiritual development. I look forward to encountering multiple perspectives of a culture so different from my own and how these encounters will challenge and expand what I believe and know to be true. I especially anticipate the knowledge that I will gain from the firsthand experience of my internship, which I will be able to carry with me as I return home to America and pursue a career in education.
Without a doubt, all of these experiences in Pune will make my morning musings unlike any I have experienced as of yet. Call me a romantic, a dork if you may, for finding such fascination in a natural daily occurrence, but the self-realization accomplished by my sunrise reflections is the kind of educational experience that cannot be achieved in the classroom – and the kind that I think Tagore, the “Sun Lion” himself, would appreciate
Though the sunrise arrives in Wisconsin 10 1/2 hours after it reaches Pune, I do hope you’ll join me one of these mornings, from whatever horizon lies before you!

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