For Sylvia, I will never stop working towards what I believe in. Ever.
- In memory of Sylvia Shortt -
By: Daniyal Nasir, Pakistan, GRSP 18/19
Sylvia found me in 2018. I had lost all of my motivation to do things and I quit frankly, came to Georgia for a year off. My year off became the year I once again found my purpose on this planet. The things Sylvia taught me and made me realize in the short year we were together honestly changed everything for me. No words I can write down can do justice to her memory, for it is far greater than the recounting of a confused 24-year-old who still can’t process that she’s gone. I will, for my sake, do my best to recount some of the best lessons she ever taught me.
She made me think of the world through the concept of energy: we are all products of, and will inevitably return to once again to being energy. I used to be (and unfortunately still am sometimes) a very negative person. Sylvia taught me the importance of positive energy and just how much of a difference it makes. Love everyone, love everything. ‘Mother Earth’ was close to Sylvia’s heart and it changed how I looked at our planet. Our planet is dying and we are causing its demise. The positive energy we should always exude should go to the Earth that surrounds us, and not just the people that inhabit it. Our energies and intentions matter, in the micro as well as the macro. Sylvia Shortt quite literally changed my world view. Once bitter and angry about the way people and life f***ed me over, Sylvia made me move on and be bigger than the hate inside me.
She made me check my privilege. Sylvia never held back in educating us about the progressive ethic. Her perspectives were her own, and she educated us in a way that would help us find our own perspective about things. She embodied, to me, the person I want to grow up to be with regards to understanding and tackling the social injustices around us. She has an entire family of students that she helped over the years. And like me, these students were all sons and daughters of Sylvia Shortt. She kept, protected, educated, and lifted up my brothers and sisters for years and years, all for the happiness it gave her. Sylvia was the perfect humanitarian and had the biggest heart.
She made me truly believe in my own conviction. She lifted me up, pushed me to be better, and made me believe again that I could take the world on. The few years before I met Sylvia had completely taken the life out of me. It took away my creativity, freedom, and energy. Sylvia made me believe, by putting me up on stage in front of an audience I didn’t think I could win over, that I still have what it takes to do what I love. She hated MMA but loved that I wanted to make it my whole life. She supported me in how a parent should support her son, and I will never ever be able to forget the faith she had in me. She motivates me every single day to be better even now. She helped me accept who I am. The faith she had in her own convictions is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. She helped turn Georgia blue for the first time in too long and she did this with a bad ankle. For Sylvia, I will never stop working towards what I believe in. Ever.
My heart aches and I’m thinking about my family right now. I love all of you so much. This is only the lessons I can muster up right now. Sylvia meant the world to me and so many others. She was one of the greatest people I’ve ever met. Rest in power, ma ❤
