“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.
I sent two Victory
Boxes to Afghanistan for my service project.
I sent one box in October and another box in November. I am planning to send another one in
December. I thought this project was a
great idea. I think its very important
to show our military that we support them and to send things that they might
miss while being away. I was surprised
when I saw the list of items that they requested. I imagined they would want things like
razors, tooth brushes and tooth paste, they were on the list. They also requested journals and pens,
something I would have never thought to send but I understand why they want
these. They asked for a lot of snacks
like Mike and Ike sours, red vines, pizza flavored pringles, twinkies, takis,
and trail mix. This is stuff we just
take for granted, being able to go to the store and get whatever we want. It would be hard to be in a different country
away from everything and everyone you know and love.
Some of my strongest
core values are kindness, compassion, and service. I like to take care of people. I like to help people. This is evident in all areas of my life. This project is perfect for my core
values. When I was shopping for the
stuff to send to Afghanistan, I felt like I was helping someone. I thought about what their daily life might
be like. What their struggles were
compared to mine. I have a lot of
respect for the people who serve in our military. My major is undecided. I do have a passion for exercise
science. I would love to be a physical
therapist but there is so much education involved in that career. I’m not sure if I am up to that. I also am thinking about Athletic
Training. Both of these careers involve
helping people.
I think being away from
home, in harms way, and getting a box filled with all the things you miss would
be a great surprise. I hope it would let
them know that we care, we support them, and are grateful for what they are
doing. When I was in eighth grade my
good friends’ dad was sent to Iraq. He was an
orthopedic surgeon and was being sent there to do surgeries on soldiers. His operating room was a container
truck. He had to do surgeries with a
rifle hung over him. They were never
allowed to take the rifle off. When he
was there he was telling his wife that he missed working out at the gym. My dad sells exercise equipment. He fixed him up a bag with different kinds of
bands, and directions on how to use them.
He would be able to do a full
body workout with everything my dad sent him.
He was so happy to get that bag.
Not only for the workouts but just knowing that my dad cared enough to
go through the trouble of putting all of that together for him and mailing
it. I sent him a couple letters while he
was there. He sent me back some pictures
of his base. When he returned, he
brought me back some of the money they use in Iraq and a t-shirt with his
squadron on it. He told us how much
receiving letters means when you are deployed.
I come from a military town. I
have a lot of friends with family members that are in the Navy. I’ve seen how much they sacrifice when they
have to leave on deployment. They don’t really know when they will be
returning. Sometimes they can’t even
tell you exactly where they are going for security reasons. I think that would be really hard on the
family that is left behind. They miss
things like Christmas, graduations, birthdays, it doesn’t really matter the
importance of the event, if they are deployed they have to miss it. I liked this assignment. It really makes you think of other people,
something college students aren’t that great at. I think we need to come together as a society
more often and help those who need
it.
It would make the world a much better place.
