It was said by Maya Angelou “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.” I love this quote because when I think of it, I automatically feel calm and happy. We are in control of the way we make others feel and that is so empowering and uplifting to me. Whenever I am down I think what if someone else is feeling the same way, what could I do for them that would benefit the both of us.
For this service project, I decided to choose the option of getting an individual item for the veterans in need. When looking at the list, I wasn’t sure what I was going to choose because there were so many options. I thought to myself, if I had very little, what would be one of the things I would want most. Naturally and obviously, I chose the pillows. I thought one, we all sleep, two who doesn’t love to sleep, and three everyone deserves something comfortable to lay their head on a night no matter who they are.
I called up my parents and told them about the project, they were overjoyed that I was doing something for the community instead of just calling for extra money to splurge on dinner or going out. They asked a lot of questions and were interested to here that there was a place in Tallahassee that was helping the veterans. At home, I have yet to hear of any local places giving their time to these important people.
My Dad generously gave me the money to go get pillows so I drove to Walmart the next chance I had. When I walked in I looked for the best ones that weren’t so expensive, so I was able to get a lot. I picked out the comfiest pillows and the softest pillow cases to go with them. Something about doing something for other people made me feel so good, lasting throughout the entire day. Even though it was just spending a few extra dollars on pillows, I still felt like the sun shined a little brighter and like I was making a difference in someone’s life. I feel like in college most students, including me, get caught up in thinking the world revolves around them.
We get stuck thinking “I need to study, I don’t have time for that” or “I have no money, how could I possibly help another person”.
The answers to these statements are simple, it’s a matter of priorities.
We do have time to help others, we could do it during our Netflix times. It may seem unrealistic, but there are some people I think I know that would give at least a day out of their week up from watching Netflix.
Skipping our daily Starbucks for one week could help too, we could take that money and use it to either cook or buy things for these people who are less fortunate.
I felt so good inside when I dropped the pillows off to Dr. Soldanis room. Seeing what was already there from other classmates of mine and seeing what I was adding was such an awesome sight.
I hope this service project encouraged others to want to help more like it did me. It even encouraged my parents to want to get involved in others lives more. Im so thankful for this project and can’t wait for others like it to come. Like Helen Keller said, “true happiness…is not attained through self-gratification, but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.” I definitely felt this today.