For my service project, I made a care box for a homeless veteran at Veterans Village. I went with my sister and bought things I thought would hopefully bless my veteran, Darden. We bought him a warm, fuzzy, bathrobe. I thought this would probably be a good thing for him, since it is getting to be winter season and going to be cold outside. We also bought him pajama pants, and three t-shirts that matched his pajamas. When we were out, we found nice bath towels and hand towels that matched everything else we had bought so far. To complete the box I got a card for Darden and wrote a short note inside that told him that I was thinking about him and that I hoped he liked the gift.
The quote that I chose, that stuck out to me the most was Rabindranath Tagore’s quote. It said, "I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.” When I read this, it really struck me. During my shopping for Darden, I was stressed out, and struggling with stuff going on in my own life. If I’m being honest, I wanted to just stay home and focus on myself. But as I was shopping, I was so happy! I forgot all about myself and focused on someone else, who had less than I did. It filled me with so much joy and happiness, and got rid of all my self-pity. After the shopping trip, I found it hard to even go back to thinking about things the same way. I have so much to be thankful for and this service project reminded me of that. I believe that serving other people is one of the best feelings in the world. I truly believe it’s impossible not be happy when you see how happy you are making other people. My sister, who shopped with me, said, “It’s so much fun to do things for other people.” She was blessed by shopping for Darden, I was blessed by it, and I hope Darden is blessed too.
