It's been about a week since I returned from a week of volunteering in Washington D.C. at a daycare, after-school program, women's shelter, and food kitchen. The trip had its ups and downs and overall was a really important and enlightening experience.
No matter what I have to deal with in my own life, I have been born extremely fortunate and am very very very blessed. I don't care what anyone says about peoples' success being based purely on hard work and effort, it is true in part, but there is no denying that other factors that are beyond anyone's control play a crucial role in a person's ability to accomplish things that society deems important. I was born to a loving family, in a good area, without any mental or physical disabilities, and at a time when a person of my gender and ethnicity does not have many barriers to success. I mean seriously, a lot of who you become is determined by things like that, things completely out of your control. What you look like, how much money your family has, how many siblings you have, your neighborhood.
I don't mean to say that I or anyone else who has been able to be successful hasn't put forth a lot of effort and had determination. I just realize how fortunate I am to have come from a place that has made it possible and in fact encouraged this. From my time volunteering, I found that this is absolutely NOT the case in many situations. I saw kids between infantcy and high school and the challenges to their success that they were facing seemed almost unsurmountable in some cases. The kids that I saw in elementary and middle school seemed to have so much potential and looking at the older kids and these kids' parents I saw how this potential was being lost every day. Some of the kids that I was working with had single parents and 6 or 7 other siblings. There is no possible way that they were getting enough of the positive attention that they needed, and the example that they were given to follow was so far from what it ideally should have been that it left me wondering how there could be any chance for them to succeed. The younger kids looked to the older kids and the people that they were modeling did not have their best interests in mind.
It gave me great admiration for the people in the after school program and anyone who dedicates time to trying divert the cycle through providing a stable place for the kids to do homework and play and provide an example of what they can accomplish. I think that it's an amazing thing to be able to impact another person and possibly change the direction of their life. After my week there I just wished that I could take all of the kids home with me and protect them from the future that they were facing.
This experience made me wonder how such unfairness could be possible in a country as rich and privileged as ours. Some Australian people staying at the same hostel as me commented on how shocked they were that in so many places in the US, it seemed like a third world country. I have been fairly sheltered in many regards from seeing this, but it's true and the only thing that I can think is that we are all put on earth with varying abilities and situations in order for those of us that are able to and in a good situation to be successful to help others who were not born as fortunate.
My pivileges lead me to believe that it is my responsibility to help others less fortunate.
It made me think about how I always talk about how I would just like to be comfortable as far as my wealth, but really how comfortable should I be when others are not just uncomfortable, but struggling to survive. What person needs a sports car when other people are freezing on the streets?
God has blessed me and the only reason I can think that that is, is so that I can help other people with my talents and abilities.
Ok, so that was fairly long winded and I hope that it made sense, it's just my reflecting on my spring break experience. I hope that I am able to give and share my talents more in the future.
Why would I have been given so much if I wasn't supposed to give back to the world? | 
