AMH2020
“A tree is known by its fruit; a man by his deeds. A good
deed is never lost; he who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants
kindness gathers love.”-Saint Basil.
I took these powerful words and
transferred the essence of the words into my service project.
For my service
project I chose to participate in one of the dinners at the Veteran’s Village
on October 26th and I enjoyed myself very much. I was able to interact
with the people that I was directly helping by giving them items that sustained
them. I can also recall being able to laugh and joke with the guys as they went
through the line to get a plate of food and there was joy in them being able to
eat that meal.
The people were super appreciative and it made the young adults
that were volunteering question what happens when these type of dinners don’t
occur, or when the vets had had their last meal before that one, or even where
the vets’ next meal will come from. The importance of social outreach and doing
for others was seen as a valuable teaching and learning moment for many that
were there at the Veteran’s Village to volunteer their time. The things that a
person takes away from something like this cannot be measured or valued by
anyone but that person.
The ability to make plates and have verbal and
physical interactions with the residents of Veteran’s village showed me how
important my involvement with the people that I will be helping in my career
field will be. I have chosen Environmental Engineering and sometimes the
connection to the people that the work directly affects gets lost in government
regulations and corporate power.
I think that by taking my time and being at
Veteran’s village had an impact on me and the people there because it gave them
an opportunity to see that the younger people of my generations have hearts and
care. It also showed them that their service was not forgotten or unappreciated
while it also showed me that each person must be shown value even when they
feel valueless. The best way that we can be great as a society is to be HUMAN.
In that I mean that we are all victims to life’s ups and downs and we must have
the compassion to assist people in need even if it doesn’t appear to directly
impact us. Everything in this life is connected in some way and it is important
for each of us to do social service events or projects like this in order to
maintain the optimum balance of society if we want true progress. In today’s
world there is so much tension and fear amongst people that people make excuses
to get out of living within their human nature.
Even though I am a few years
older than the majority of my classmates, I still could relate to the
separation that exists between the have and the have nots. The world that we
live in is focused more on the concepts surrounding material possessions but people
are empty on the inside. This imbalance creates so many issues that stunt our
growth and projects like this make a way for people that are unaware of this
imbalance to wake up and observe before the negative conditioning becomes a permanent
pathway.
When I go to Haiti each year, I feed and clothes people that are in
need and I take medical supplies to small clinics and schools because supply
costs are high and they cannot afford to pay. It does not appear to be a lot on
the surface, but small events like this shape the future of the recipients of
the good deeds or acts of kindness. It is my belief that this is the first
chain to a link of chains that will change the world as we see it. One thing
that has come to my mind while writing this, is that I need to stay grounded in
these ideas while I go through my program and be apart of a few internships or
volunteering events in my field. This project was great and I understand the
reason it is important for students to complete. If the people that are over the
curriculum could get a better understanding of the value this type of project
has on a person I would wish that it was a part of all majors.
In closing, I feel happy that I
took Dr. Soldani’s class instead of the online class. I was able to connect
with a professor that has an investigative mind for history instead of the
standard memorization and regurgitation teaching that most history professors
hold. She told us stories so that we could see through her lens and it worked.
I am grateful of her time and her dedication.
