While in Atlanta, It was really hard for me to give back to the community. Even though I was unable to give back this weekend, I have done many things in the past. One of my favorites was going on a mission trip to New Orleans in the Summer of 2007 right after I had graduated from high school. We were rebuilding a house that had been wiped out during Katrina for a woman and her husband. I had never really done anything other than simple volunteer work or give old clothes away so this was a big stretch for me. This experience made me realize how lucky I was to have the things I have, and even though I wasn't receiving anything in return from this strenuous labor, the look on the couple's face really said it all for me. They had been living in a FEMA trailer since 2005 and they finally got to see their house taking shape again after two long years. Though we only stayed for a week, we almost finished all of the dry wall in the house, and the group that worked the week after us finished the house up. It was a really great feeling to see the change that you can make in a person's life.
This week's "no impact" theme has really helped me realize that I have been careless about consuming numerous things such as water, fuel, and energy and need to cut back for sure. I am going to try and do more volunteer type things in the future, because it's good to help others and not expect anything in return because we are truly blessed as it is.
While I didn't do much over the weekend either, I have also been to New Orleans on a mission trip. We didn't actually build houses, we instead volunteered at different places around the town and did a few things- the Soup Kitchen being one of them. We also toured the part of the city that had been the most damaged, maybe even where you worked, and it was crazy to see the amount of destruction done somewhere so close to home, and on that note, even really in the United States. It is definitely a great feeling to go home with though.
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