I was 13 years old when my hometown was flooded with 13 feet of water. While I was in disbelief that something so horrendous could happen to my happy city, I was told that I should help. While I stood in an assembly line passing sandbags person to person I was not pleased about my presence. I thought of all the fun I could be having back at my house. I could be playing with my friends or trying out the latest computer game. But instead there I stood, passing bag after bag to a stranger. As I looked down the row of people I could see the sandbag wall start to grow. I remember thinking after I left, “So what?” I was actually very disappointed. I wanted immediate gratification but that was not going to happen. Days went by and the water slowly disappeared and our city was left with what were once considered buildings and homes. But I gave my time and my home was not affected so I was able to continue my life like nothing had ever happened.
Little did I know at the time, but this was the start of me becoming an avid volunteer. Originally I thought I was just helping stop the water for my city, because once the water went away I could go back to my favorite shopping malls and see my friends again. The first time I volunteered I did it because I was selfish.
A few years later I volunteered again for one of my high school classes. The class decided to team up with Habitat for Humanity and we built a house for a family that lost their home in that same flood. Again, this task started out selfishly. I thought it would be so cool to say that I built a house. But after the end of the first day, the woman who owned the house came up to us while holding her son’s hand. She smiled asked to take our picture and sign the beams that made up the frame of the house. I felt as though I was a super hero or a celebrity with the way the little boy looked at me. He gazed up at myself and the other builders with a look of amazement. With the cold hammer sitting in my even colder hand, it became apparent that I was a part of something much bigger. As I carefully signed my long last name, I looked over and saw the woman wrap her arms around her young son. As her eyes were filled with tears, I could see the pain from the past start to diminish and the hope for the future grow. It was in that moment I realized what I was actually doing. I wasn’t just building a house and I wasn’t just doing a “resume builder”, I was helping to rebuild a family.
The look in that woman’s eyes got me hooked on the feeling of volunteering. The high you get when you do something selflessly and get the look from a stranger like you gave them the world.
As I continue to grow, I continue to give back. Being a college student can be hard. The lack of money can seem shattering and you think, how can I help someone when I can barely afford tuition? But the most valuable thing you can give any human being is time. Whether it be creating care packages for soldiers overseas, serving food to the homeless, or just listening to someone who needs a friend, your time commitment can mean the world to someone else. And knowing that you were the reason someone was able to smile that day makes it all worth it.
I continue to volunteer today. But I think it’s unfair to say that I do it only thinking of the recipient, because I do it for myself. I volunteer because I know my help will make someone else’s life that much easier, and that in itself is the best gift you can give yourself.
