Generation Hope was an organization started by some senior med students here at NYU with the goal of raising awareness and funds for AIDS orphans in Malawi (the ones that Madonna steals). I became involved and was lucky enough to travel to Lilongwe in July 2006.

That experience, coupled with the rest of my summer in Mombasa and a few other experiences over the years culminated in this simple statement of belief: I believe in believing. For instance, I have never stopped believing--almost to the point of knowing--that I was capable of doing anything I set my mind to. Maybe that's the brash ignorance of someone who has been given so much. I think it's more.

To me, believing is an active verb. To believe in something is to create a context in which no other reality could possibly be true. From thoughts to words, actions to sentiments: believing is creating.

Required reading: Jerome Groopman's Anatomy of Hope