I'm at the City Year (Americorps) annual conference - Cyzygy (or spelled correctly spelled syzygy in the dictionary meaning alignment of stars). For those of you who don't know, it's actually a conference of young individuals who have committed an entire year (or two) of service to volunteer and mentor young children across America. This year is held in Manchester, New Hampshire -- about an hour drive from Boston. I'm here because I work for corporate social responsibility and my company is one of the corporate partners of City Year.

So last night, I got the priviledge of being seated three seats rows away from the stage. Bill Clinton was the guest speaker for the opening night and man he's a genius! I don't think he rehearsed anything he spoke about but he made great sense. What I took away from the speech was that we are all 99.9% similar and only 0.1% different. In order for us to move forward and make a difference, we all should celebrate our similarities rather than focus on the 0.1% difference that divide us.

This morning, another talk, more like a townhall meeting. It was fun seeing the CEO of Timberland talk about why success isn't all measured by the money and title we get from our professions. It is however the difference we try to make from our professions that really matter. As a first generation immigrant, I am proud to say that I have not forgotten about my roots and what I owe to the people from where I came from that actually made me the person that I am -- a big dreamer yet remindful. Going back to Sarah McLachlan's song World on Fire, "The more we take the less we become, The fortune of one man means less for some."

- peace all!