AMH2020 student
The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in
the service of others. -Mahatma Gandhi
For this service project, I bought
towels, bed sheets, and a giftcard to target to contribute to the veterans
getting christmas presents. At first, I wanted to feed the veterans at veterans
village, but those slots filled up fast. When I went to feed them for the extra
credit opportunity, I really liked helping them. When I was in highschool I
would feed the homeless every wednesday and the same feeling of joy I got when
I helped them, I got out of feeding the veterans. Although this service project
is less direct than actually going to their homes and feeding them, I think
buying christmas presents is also very important. Christmas is a time of year
where love and happiness is supposed to be spread. Although I won’t get to see
their reactions, I feel like by providing a couple gifts for these veterans I
helped brighten their christmas.
My core value is happiness. I believe
the best way to obtain happiness is through other people. Whenever you see
someone smiling, it becomes contagious. Even if you are in a bad mood, another
human can tell you a joke or say something to make you laugh. But the feeling
on the other side is amazing to. Being the one making someone else happy is an
even better feeling. Like I said before, there is this feeling of joy that emits
after doing a good deed. This is one of the main reasons I want to be a nurse.
I plan on becoming a pediatric nurse practitioner, and the best part of my job
is getting paid to help cute little kids. Doing something you actually care
about is really important when you get older. Like I said, happiness is my core
value and I would much rather be a nurse, where I actually enjoy my job, than
sit at a desk for eight hours waiting to go home. I understand that nursing is
much more complicated than just “helping”, but that is essentially what a nurse
does. Completing this project further assured me that I have a passion for
helping people and I can’t wait to do this full time.
I feel like I have a stronger respect for the veterans
than most of the other students doing this project.My dad retired from the army a few years ago as a lieutenant colonel and he’s told me unimaginable stories. I even experienced my own hardships having to move every 3 years and even waiting and worrying for my dad to come back from Afghanistan.
So I have a better understanding of what these men have been through and I respect them so much for doing it. I hope that by having some presents to open on christmas they become closer as a community and realize how important they are. Veterans are so underappreciated, especially the ones who can’t make that much money due to injuries they suffered from protecting our country. Not only does this project make the veterans feel good, but it forces students to invest time and emotion into other humans. When I told my dad about this project and about me feeding them earlier this year, he was really proud of me. He even gave me money to buy the christmas presents
