“As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the
other for helping others.”
- Audrey Hepburn
Just as Audrey Hepburn said, you have two hands that were meant for helping. Those hands of which were meant to help yourself and others. Through the service project opportunity, I was able to help both myself and many deserving Veteran’s. I helped serve the Veteran’s on three different occasions at three different dinners. I helped serve at the first Veteran’s village dinner and one in October. I’m not sure of the date, but I also helped at the Thanksgiving dinner as well. My favorite visit was the dinner on Thanksgiving Day. Serving the Veteran’s is already a very selfless and fulfilling act, but being able to serve them on a holiday that is already so meaningful just made the experience even better. Serving the Veteran’s is very self-fulfilling in that you can see how you are helping someone and making their day better first hand. You can actually see the impact you are having on these people while also getting to know some really great folks. I was very thankful that I was in town and able to serve the Veteran’s on the holiday. It was really neat to be able to give them a nice, home cooked, warm meal on a holiday that is meant to be spent with family. The Veteran’s didn’t appear to be with their families so it was cool to be able to fill that void and give them some company on such a meaningful holiday. I do not cook and when I say that I mean it. Like I literally Googled “how to make scrambled eggs” like six months ago, that’s how much I suck. For these dinners, I actually tried though and the results were decent. The first dinner I decided to make cookies. I realized about ten minutes after they were already in the oven that I didn’t make enough, so I grabbed the pan out and cut some in half to make more. They weren’t the greatest looking, but at least I had enough for each Veteran to at least get one. When I got to the dinner, some nice man told me that my cookies were basically s*** and that I had an issue with my timing and rising of the cookies. It was funny to hear what I already knew to be true.
I decided to serve the Veteran’s because I thought it would be fun while also helpful to them. I think the Veteran’s really enjoyed it and were as thankful as I was that I could be there to serve them. This opportunity, or should I say opportunities, have really made me question my purpose in life and in school. I’ve always been interested in Forensics and thought Criminology would be my passion and major, but I’m starting to rethink that fact. Sure that job would be helpful, but I think it would be even more cool to help people first hand. Maybe a nursing degree or some sort of public service would be even more fulfilling. Even a teaching degree would be fulfilling. Teaching and nursing are both degrees that would allow me to help people in many different ways. Volunteering and serving the Veteran’s also allowed me to do this.
The quote by Audrey Hepburn seems to be extremely relevant to how I feel about service and helping others. As a little girl, I was always very selfish and only thought about myself. The quote by Hepburn talks about how one hand is meant for helping yourself. That is how I felt growing up. As I got older though, I started thinking more about others and less about myself. Serving the Veteran’s allowed me to do this. Helping others is beneficial not only to the community, but to myself. Through helping others, I learned many things about our society and myself. I got to leave the Veteran’s Village feeling good about how I have personally impacted someone’s life. These individuals have suffered to fight for our freedoms and protect this great nation. By volunteering, it is my way of paying the Veteran’s back for all the service they have bestowed upon us. Each individual has made sacrifices that I cannot repay, volunteering is the least I can do to serve the ladies and gentleman that have served us.
