"We need more kindness, more compassion, more joy, and more laughter. I definitely want to contribute to that. - Ellen DeGeneres". I chose this quote because I have realized a lot in growing up. The other day after the final you told me about the girl in the front row with her friend who came to serve dinner to the veterans and how rude she was, she was so sheltered and ignorant of where she was and what she was truly doing; and the sad thing is she is not the only one like that. I know many people who just know what they have been taught and don't have the courage to make their own opinions or the thought process to think that there is more to what they just know. The service project at first of course I was like ugh I hate doing things like this, but honestly it gives me great joy to help people who just need something extra, because at some point in our lives we all do and the saying goes "do to others what you want done to you" and if you show kindness and do good than hopefully one day it will be returned to them as well. It was very important to me that I did a gift box because I came from a family where I had nothing when i was little, I couldn't play sports and I shopped just at Wal-Mart for clothes and necessities because my family had nothing, so I know what it is like to have not a lot to start with. People constantly take advantage of what they have, and really are only concerned with their own well beings. What you do every year, having kids do this for people whether they make food or make gift boxes is truly a great thing because maybe, just maybe these ignorant people will start to slowly have a change of mind and heart and perceive things differently. It is even much more than just doing stuff for people, it is also the stuff around us. A lot of people are misinformed, and haven't been cultured well at all lol. Like the fact that the girl in the front row considered that the ghetto where she was or the "bad part of town" like, that she held herself higher up than those other people is kind of disgusting. I want to tie this into more than just giving to people, I mean with absolutely everything: people on welfare, student aid, lower class, black people, and the possibilities of war. I feel a lot of people these days follow the crowd and do things blindly; they do without really knowing why they did it, or why they believe it and I believe that the project you gave us can open doors to a lot of those things. Like for instance, I have financial aid so luckily I don't have to pay for my undergraduate, but people make crude comments and say that of course a certain group just gets handed money and do nothing and can make any grades; and all of it is their parents talking. What they don't know is your family has to make absolutely nothing to get money, your grades have to be pristine, and if you fail you have to pay them back. It is sucks that so many people are the way they are, and you start to realize this more and more as you grow up. If more people did what you did, taught the way you did, maybe a lot of people would have different perceptions and start to question more and more, and truly that is what we need. It made my absolute day to be able to give someone something, I love doing things for people who can't for themselves; I have this tendency to put others needs before mine and take care of people and it brings me joy. Like the quote said, we need more joy, laughter, and more compassion.
