It was a gorgeous, sunny Friday afternoon in Bloomington with spring fully underway. Classes were just getting over with, and students could be seen all over campus neglecting a mountain of work before finals just to escape outside for a few hours. I found myself in that crowd as I took a leisurely stroll back to my apartment after my discussion class and observed students pretending to be good at throwing Frisbees in Dunn Meadow, annoying tour groups taking selfies with Herman B. Wells, and people so pale and white laying out to tan that it nearly blinded me (shoutout to another Indiana winter).

None of this bothered me, though, because I had a 2:30 tee time. I had been looking forward to hitting the links all week with my friends, and nothing could get in the way of that. Without a worry in the world, I was imagining how great it was going to be to finally get away from school for just enough time to forget about the quiz I just bombed, and how hard finals are going to be. I was just cleaning off my clubs and getting ready to head over to the course when I got a text message reminder from my community service chairman: I had committed to volunteer at the soup kitchen at 3:30 p.m. a few weeks prior.

My heart sank. I could not believe that I had scheduled a whole afternoon to myself while forgetting this obligation. There was no way to back out of it, and I had to cancel my plans. I was upset I had to spend the whole afternoon inside doing something I had no intentions of. It was at that very moment I had to stop myself, as I realized what I was thinking: my ability to have a good afternoon was becoming entirely dependent on my egocentric desires. At one point in time, when I signed up, I was willing to volunteer my time and efforts, and I don't think that my willingness to do it service should hinge on impulsive, self-centered desires. As a fraternity man who prides himself on upholding the values that was engrained into me during pledgeship, I became very disconcerted.

So, I showed up to the soup kitchen and put in a few hours of service. At the end of the day, I was glad I went and I actually enjoyed it while I was there. But then again, this should have been no surprise, as I have been doing community service for years. So, what I really took away from this experience is not some sort of self-righteous epiphany of a how great it is to serve the community. This is not some sort of plead for everyone to do more community service. Rather, everyone should view their lives from the reality of their obligations. That is to say, I felt better knowing that I followed through on what I really intend to do, regardless of how I wanted my Friday afternoon to be like.

If anyone is going to take anything away from my most likely irrelevant story, it is that we should keep everything in perspective and really figure out the common thread of what we believe in. I think that reality check can bring us one step closer to living a more fulfilling life, if there ever was such a thing.