AMH2020 student
“I've learned that people will
forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never
forget how you made them feel.” - Maya Angelou
For my service project, I chose to mail a box to the
soldiers currently serving in Afghanistan, filled many of the items they
requested. I decided to choose this service project over helping with a
Veteran’s Village dinner because there were less people signed up to send a box
to Afghanistan at the time, and I thought this would have a more direct impact
on someone’s life. The homeless veterans already have people thinking about
them and trying to help them in the Tallahassee community, however the currently
serving soldiers in Afghanistan might not have anyone to help them. I wanted to
show any soldier that may feel forgotten by the rest of the country that there
are still people at home thinking about them, and are willing to help them with
whatever they may need to make their lives a little more comfortable while they
are deployed.
My core value during the in class exercise where that was
discussed ended up being loyalty. I believe this service project connects with
my core value pretty well, as it was a chance to help those who are loyally
serving the United States on their deployment to Afghanistan. Each soldier
showed loyalty to their country by signing up for the military in the first
place, and shows loyalty every day by continuing to serve instead of deserting
or trying to get out of their enlistment somehow. I see it as a civic
responsibility to return their loyalty by trying to help them in any way
possible, and make their lives at least a little bit happier whenever possible.
No soldier should ever feel like those at home don’t care about their well-being
and happiness.
This service project also connects well with my major.
One of my majors is Political Science, which is primarily based on public
service and the government. Everyone serving in the military holds a public
service governmental job, and they are vital to the operation of the United
States government. Without the military, the government would have no way to
secure reliable trade routes such as the oil shipping lanes in the Strait of Hormuz.
There would also be no way to protect the country and its citizens from
invasion by another country looking to harm Americans.
It is nice to be able to directly help currently serving
soldiers, instead of just reading about them on the news and in political
science classes. Most of the material discussed in class about the military is
theoretical or historical in nature, and only mentions the military as an
organization. There is very little consideration given to individual soldiers
and how they feel or what they go through in order to achieve the main
objective that is recorded in the history books. Being able to send packages to
them directly shows them that it’s not just the mission which is important,
they as individuals are also equally as important and should not be overlooked.
I hope this service project had an impact on at least one
soldier, showing them that they are being thought about by those at home, and
even people they have never met before. I also hope service projects like this
will encourage the rest of the community to do similar things, and help the
military however they are able to. Having a service project like this as part
of an American History class is a great idea, as it really puts things into a
more personal perspective. Members of the military aren’t just characters in
the stories written in history textbooks, they are people who have sacrificed
their own desires and goals in order to help their fellow Americans.
