This past weekend, I was given the opportunity to do a service project with 20 eighth grade girls. These girls acted as you would expect eighth-grade girls to act: energetic, loud, excited. These girls' only goal was to help people and serve the Lake Area. They chose their own project and decided to hand out water bottles at grocery stores and help people unload their carts. So we loaded up a van of 20 middle school girls. Girls who were ready to make a difference.
Except people wouldn't let them.
After asking one store if it was OK for us to help people unload their groceries, they declined our request.
We visited another store and decided asking for forgiveness was better than asking for permission, and we went around the parking lot to see who needed our help. Some of the girls waited at the door to see if people coming out would need help too. By the way people acted, you would have thought these girls were bringing Ebola back. Each person that exited the store walked as quickly as the could as 12-year-old girls called after them, "Can we help unload your groceries, free of charge?" People walked with their heads down, avoiding these girls at every cost.
"This is discouraging," mumbled one of the girls. I was heartbroken. All these girls wanted to do was help, but everyone was too busy for that. After all, why would you let a 13-year-old girl help you, she would just get in the way, right?
It's that kind of dehumanizing mindset that gets our society in trouble. If we were to teach these girls that their efforts are meaningless, and that they shouldn't try, what kind of adults are they going to grow up to be?
Thankfully, I was able to take their rejections and turn it into a life lesson. Sometimes people will reject us. Sometimes people are going to be stubborn and refuse help. But we can do our best to help anyway. We can be stubborn too. Stubborn in our persistence to do good and to love.
After a while, we did have better luck handing out water bottles. After people trudged across the hot pavement parking lot, people looked relieved for water. Others still, sweating and clearly in need of hydration, had their head down the entire time they passed us. Eventually, we were asked to leave.
I'm proud of these girls. I'm proud that they didn't give up after the first 15 people said no. However, I'm not proud of the multiple generations ahead of them. I'm not proud of a society that avoids people in a rush to get from point A to point B as quickly as possible. This same situation exists on campus. All around us are students who walk with headphones in so they can avoid everyone who walks passed them. If you see that kind of guy, don't just ignore them right back. Give them a wave. Maybe even a smile. What's the worst that could happen? They don't see you? That's OK. At least you tried. Same goes for the girls who want to help in front of the grocery store. Give them a wave. Accept their free water. Being in a rush doesn't give you the right to dehumanize anyone.
