As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for helping others. – Audrey Hepburn.
When Dr. Soldani presented us with the challenge of going out and doing something nice for others, I had to think pretty long and hard about it. I didn’t know what I wanted to do but I knew that I wanted to make a difference. Being my first semester up here in Tallahassee I started to notice while driving to school multiple men that looked homeless, that would stand outside the drive through asking for anything that could help. So I decided, once I knew that I had to do a service project that I would go and buy these people a meal. I did this to two men, one standing outside taco bell and the other outside Whataburger. It felt really good to do something like this. Not because I felt like a good person but because of the smiles that were brought to these peoples faces and the gratitude that I received from someone so needy. The man outside Whataburger, his name was Reggie, actually offered to give me the only dollar he had on him to pay me back, I was shocked that someone in his position would do such a thing and I politely refused.
But even after doing this I was still not satisfied and wanted to help more people. I was at Publix about a week later and there was this little old lady in front of me that was checking out. She had used a gift card to pay for some of it, but there was still some money that she needed to pay. I could tell she was struggling to count the change that she was trying to use to pay for it but eventually came up around ten dollars short, and I could tell that she was incredibly embarrassed and told the cashier to take the remaining items back. I immediately stepped up and said that wouldn’t be necessary and said that I would cover the rest. After I paid for the items the cashier, looked at me and said that she had never had that happen in her line the entirety of her working at Publix (nine years) and added that good karma will always come back around. I then told the old lady to stand by until I paid for my items as I insisted on helping her to her car and putting her groceries away.
Although it may not have been much, taking the time to do something nice for another no matter how small can not only change their day but can impact the people around you as well. Taking the time out of this semester and putting it toward others, has had a great impact on my life. Realizing that others have it so much worse, will change they way you look at life and make that C you received in a class look not so bad. I will forever try and keep paying forward the blessings I have in life, as I’ve learned that measuring life is not about how long you live or how much money you make, but how you affect the ones around you.
