Remember in my last post I mentioned that my first collegiate Spring Break would consist of me doing community service? Well, that did indeed happen – that and a whole lot more that is!
For starters, let me say this:
We often have to be placed in situations to understand the full impact it may have had on those initially affected. I am an avid believer in that empathy breeds more sympathy, and more sympathy breeds a charge to react.
This notion accurately depicts the first half of my Spring Break, which was spent in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, removing and repairing damage in a city that was eaten alive by a disastrous tornado in April 2011. Initially, prior to the commencement of my trip to Tuscaloosa, I continuously asked myself, what kind of assistance could this city possibly need after virtually a year of recovery?
Then I remembered the world I live in. The same world that abandoned the Gulf when Hurricane Katrina swept across various states causing some of the greatest damage and fatalities that America has ever seen. The same world that does little to react to catastrophes that happen in their own backyard. Puzzled, I developed a new sense of service and was inspired to do whatever I could to relieve the people of Tuscaloosa, my extended community, of the struggles they must have endured following the tornado that stripped them of shelter, loved ones and a place to call home. Read the rest of this page »
