(from online student AMH 2020)
Through this experience I have remember a valuable lesson about how it doesn’t take much to do something nice for someone. You don’t need to spend tons of money or tons of time to make a difference in someone’s life. This is probably one of the most important lessons to learn in life in my opinion. This class reminded me that I am extremely blessed and I should make a point to go out of my way to help others who are less fortunate on a regular basis. It is so easy in our culture to get caught up seeing social media and television and everyone who has it better than you can fall into a slump of self pity. One of the most important things we can do is daily remind ourselves that there are people all over the globe who have it worse off in life. In recognizing this simple truth we should all be motivated to step out of our comfort zone and bring a smile to someone else’s face instead of constantly trying to make ourselves happy.
This summer I have been greatly inspired by the acts of kindness that I have been privileged to witness through our classes “missions”.
Not only did it feel good to know that I did something that could positively affect a stranger’s life but it made me happy to see so many other students posting about their missions and their random acts of kindness. It was a great reminder about the fact that when you do something nice for someone else, not only does it help them, but it can also brighten your day a little as well.
For my mission I chose to create a box of goodies to send to Alex and hopefully show him some love. I was deeply moved by his story and it greatly saddened me to hear about the misfortune that came his way. It makes me horrified to think that some people out there can take money from others and feel no remorse. When choosing what to send to Alex I tried to imagine myself in his shoes. I thought about how it must feel to be in his situation and what sorts of things brighten my day the most when I am in need of some cheering up. The number one thing on my mental list was having someone to talk with but since I cannot go see Alex in person I chose the next best thing I could come up with which is snacks of course! As I shopped for things to send in his gift box I thought about how my own sweet mother has sent me gift boxes from time to time since I moved out a year ago to go to college. Nothing cheers me up more than when I find a box of goodies packed just for me because I know that someone cares enough about me to go out of their way to brighten my day. As I thought about this my only hope was that somehow I pass that same good feeling on to someone else. Unfortunately I do not personally know Alex or his tastes in junk food, however, I do like to think I have pretty good tastes so I just thought the best idea when deciding what exactly to get him would be to choose what I would want someone to send to me. I went through the aisles and picked out all my favorite candies, chips, granola bars, crackers, Gatorade and so on. It made me happy to think that even if I can’t be there to hang out with him I can still in a way share with him part of me and what I like and hope that if nothing else he knows that someone out there is thinking of him.
