volunteering

Every Tuesday, I drag myself out of bed at the unearthly hour of 6:45. (Actually, that's not that early, but it feels really early since I have no morning classes before 10 this semester!). Why do I subject myself to this? It's not because my mom makes me. It's not because I want to be the first to read the funnies, although I often am anyway. I shall stop keeping you in suspense and reveal why this is: I volunteer at Agape Therapeutic Riding Center in Cicero, IN. (So does Amber--her blog is http://www.amberwheeler.blogspot.com). Volunteering is a good thing. In this particular case, it is also a fun thing. We're supposed to get there at 8:30 to help tack up the horses (it's kind of a drive--about 45 miinutes, which explains why I have to get up so early). So, first we mess around with horses which is obviously a lot of fun for me. Then, the kids get there. The class we have is from Anderson schools and they are mostly mentally disabled. So, the kids get on the horses and we go around the ring and do fun stuff with them. You should see the kids' faces light up when we trot. Some of them are non-verbal, so all the communication you get is facial expressions. I really hope we are making a difference in their lives. I don't know, really, since I never see the kids outside of Agape, but don't think it's entirely impossible that this is the best day of the week for many of them.

And I am a part of it! My professor for speech class was explaining to us how people are egocentricic (sp?), meaning that they approach everything with the attitude "what's in it for me?". Like it or not, it's true. However, it feels very good to get out of your "natural" inclination and do something for somebody else. I understand if grooming a horse and walking alongside a kid who can barely hold himself on the horse is not something you think you'd be good at, but surely there is something you can do for somebody else. I think many of my friends already do this, but a reminder surely can't hurt.

If I have encouraged you at all to help out your fellow man, here's a suggestion for how you can take action on your newly discovered ambition:

I have a problem! In a few weeks I have to give a persuasion speech and a policy speech. First, I have to convince my audience that something is a problem, and then I have to explain what the best course of action is and how they can support it. I can do something that's in the news all the time (pollution, obesity, should Indiana ban smoking in bars, etc.), but I don't want to do that. I want to do something that affects every single person in my class every day, and offer a solution that they can start implementing right away. That's a tall order. And I have no ideas. Actually, I know exactly what I would give this speech on, but I'm not allowed to. I want to speak about the problem of sin, and how to "fix" it, or more accurately, how Jesus fixed it for us. But since I can't, I am asking all of y'all to give me ideas.

So, now that you're finally done reading my rambling, I want to leave you with two thoughts:

1. I should help somebody other than myself as often as I can.

2. I should help Sara right now by giving her a great speech topic.

So long! Have a nice week!