Why I do what I do

Just received this in an email: “your book really has inspired me to work in Human Rights, hopefully in the Department of Labor. I want to work in the Bureau of International Labor Affairs to make known the rights that workers deserve in the workplace.”

I hate when writers write that something is beyond words or indescribable, (you’re a writer dammit! Describe it!) but I seriously have no words for how emails like this make me feel. I suppose the immortal words of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles come the closest:

Bodacious!

Radical!

Cowabunga, dude!

There are times when I’m on some death bus in some forgotten country, far from my family, homesick, dirty, tired, and sick that I ask myself, “Why the hell do you do this, Kelsey?”

This email, and all of the others I’ve received like it through the years, are why. Thanks to all of those who’ve shared how my work as impacted them. You give me a reason to push on.