(Student Essay Fall 2015)
“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson
― Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ever since I can remember, I have always considered myself a humanitarian. I have a very small family that mainly just consists of my mother, stepfather, older sister, and adopted brother. I am also very close to my father but I don’t see him as often since he lives in Europe. My family means the world to me and my goal is to return all of the sacrifices and love they ever gave to me. I have always put my family first in everything and anything I do, their opinions and feelings towards something that involves me is very important to me. I do everything so they could be proud of me. I am a friendly person and believe I am very social and approachable. When it comes to close personal friends, I don’t have many but the ones that I do have, have been my friends for years and I almost see them as my sisters. My friends and I always do favors for each other and we know when to return a favor as well.
Since I was younger, I have always loved animals. I have great sympathy for them and I believe in vegetarianism. My mother always talks about how when I was younger and we would go to the grocery store and we would be in the meat section, I would say things like “why do they have to do that” and “that’s not right”.
For my service project proposal I will be volunteering in Elders Helpers in Tallahassee. The mission is to volunteer to help elders for the activities you enjoy, on a schedule that works best for you and in my case it would be on the weekends and when I have off from school, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Activities that I enjoy would include arts and walks outside such as watching the sunset. One thing I learned about elderly people is that it doesn’t matter what conversation it going on, they just like to talk about anything and everything, they love engaging in conversations and proudly opening up their opinion. Before my grandmother passed away inAugust, we would sit in the living room and start talking about any event in history, the news, or what went on during that day. I know that elderly people love to talk to someone who just hears them out when they talk about their lives and the things they went through. I consider myself to be a great listener, many people comes to me for advice and such, so I think this selection for my service project suited me exactly. Their volunteers are willing to help with, carrying groceries, run errands, give rides, entertain (i.e. sing, dance, and make you laugh!), help out with making phone calls, writing letters and reading, help with cleaning and help with cooking. I have engaged myself in many conversations with the elderlies that live there but one who I enjoy very much talking to is named Mrs. White.
Mrs. White loves to talk about her grandchildren and her husband. She is widowed but has told me some amazing stories and memories they both made together throughout their marriage. I love to sit and listen to her because it’s almost like the perfect love story; they met when they were both really young and instantly fell in love and were married for about 47 years. Mrs. White always asks about my life as well. She knows I am a college student who loves to bake! I even made her “slutty brownies” one time (brownie, cookie, and Oreo baked all together) and she absolutely loved it and never had anything like it before. I can tell she really enjoys my company and our conversations. I plan on continuing to go as long as I am in Tallahassee. Mrs. White knows I will be gone for three weeks during winter break and three months during the summer break. So far, it has been an amazing experience and it feels more than amazing to give back.
