A message from the PAI (president of AIESEC International),
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A few years ago, back while a relatively new LC member in Calgary, I was invited to an evening at an alumnus' place with a few AIESEC members and a few older alumni. It was supposed to start at 7:00, and so as an eager young AIESEC member I showed up at 6:55. The host, Richard, answered the door with a look of surprise, wondering who this could be showing up on time? He still had some worn blue jeans on and a winter jacket, and had clearly been at work. After explaining that it wasn't so customary to show up early, he asked if I wanted to come out to his backyard to help him as he did some work on his deck.
For the next hour, I stood in the cold Canadian winter with him, holding a jar of nails and helping him as he hammered some boards together. As we worked, I started asking him a couple of questions. He started with the usual sharing of what he did in AIESEC, and then slowly I could see as the emotions starting stirring within him. A sense of excitement as he told me the number of countries he had traveled to, and the adventures he had. A feeling of friendship as he explained what it really meant to be able to talk all night with people he had only met two days before. The pride of being part of something so big that the work he did had such a profound influence. And a deep gratitude knowing that those adventures, those friendships, those challenges had shaped who he was at that moment, hammering nails into his family home, a new child indoors with his wife, a fulfilling life's work, a sense of meaning.
That evening, from working on the deck to sitting inside the house with the artifacts from around the world decorating the walls, the eclectic music on the stereo and watching as this group of alumni and of friends' reminisced about their AIESEC experiences, the wonder that is AIESEC was unveiled. I watched as they revisited old photo albums and didn't understand half of what they said, but could see how much it meant to them. That night, a bit more of the magic of AIESEC was revealed to me, and every day since, I discover more.
But sometimes it takes an ending to help us realize how much something has meant to us. As I sit here in the office in this last hour, watching as members of my team slowly exit the door for the last time, I am reminded that one day we will be sitting around a living room table after working on the deck out back, with friends, our husbands and wives and children, and some pictures, music, and memories that will bring back that unique spirit which is AIESEC.
On behalf of my team, thank you for a year that will be worth sharing around that table. Let all of us who are leaving remember the spirit that is AIESEC, and aspire to a future that is a demonstration of that spirit.
Gratefully, Brodie
