A large portion of today’s youth are consumed by the idea of fitting in. This causes them to crave anything that will make them into a popular or praised individual leading to them having a materialistic and self centered mind set. In Kenji Yoshino’s essay “The New Civil Rights” he uses the word “covering” to describe the actions taken by a person in order to fit in instead of stand out. As a young teen I was extremely focused on having everything that could make me more appealing to other teens. My mind set was completely changed during the summer of 2017 when I decided to go on a service trip to Dallas, Texas for my church. Here I met radical teens from all around the country who were not afraid to stand out and serve others. My eyes were also open by the young children that I met there who felt no need to “cover”. I firmly believe that this service trip instilled a strong desire to put my energy towards serving others instead of constantly trying to fit in.
The service trip that I attended was part of a program called Hope Youth Corps which was designed for teens who were willing to serve others around the world. My particular trip to Dallas was a two week program which began on July 10, 2017. When I arrived in Dallas I was introduced to 20 other teens from all over the country. We spent the day in a meeting with the leaders of the program who explained our tasks. They proceeded to tell us that we were to spend our time at a center called The Larry Johnson Center. This center was attended by young children who lived in the projects of Dallas, Texas. Our goal was to mentor the children there and assist the staff with their daily summer activities. Our leaders also expressed the importance of having a selfless and patient attitude throughout the trip. We needed to be willing to work together with a positive attitude even when we were exhausted. Everyday we worked hard to put smiles on the faces of the kids we worked with and each other.
We were each assigned a child to mentor. My mentee was a little girl named Katherine. She may have only been five at the time but that does not mean that I did not learn anything from her. One day the center took a field trip to a water park in the center of Dallas. One of the older girls there could not afford the trip but, she really wanted to go. She showed up to the center that day hoping that she would be allowed on the trip. To her disappointment she was not invited. She watched as the bus left the center with a loaded bus full of happy kids. As the bus drove away she started to chase it with determination. Almost every kid on the bus watched this scene and laughed uncontrollably. They began to snicker and make jokes about this “funny looking girl” who couldn’t go on the trip. Katherine however, could not believe her eyes. She looked at everyone with disgust and said “ How dare y’all laugh at her! Y’all should be ashamed of yourselves.”. I was so humbled to see this 5 year old girl stand up for someone else. Katherine successfully and maturely resisted the urge to cover. I remember her asking me that same day “ How can people be so mean to others?”. I just smiled and said “ Not everyone has a ginormous heart like you.”. I was in awe of Katherine’s heart. It was clear to me that she was not set on materialistic items or popularity but on the well being of others.
It seemed as though everyone I encountered on this trip was focused on the well being of everyone but themselves. The selfless peers that I met on this trip became my best friends over the course of two weeks. Savanna Laveck was the one that I grew the closest to. I never thought that I was going to make a best friend from San Antonio in that short amount of time. The reason why we were able to grow so close was because of vulnerability. There were many instances on this trip where the only way to get over the emotional exhaustion from each day was by being vulnerable. Anne Hallward mentions vulnerability in her TED Talk (im going to add more to this sentence). She described how being vulnerable is one selfless way to help others. There was an incident on the trip where one of the group members lost his father in the middle of the night in a tragic car accident. It was on one of the last nights of the trip and everyone had to help one another during those crazy last days. I may talk about Hallward and how being vulnerable is extremely important.
Conclusion:
- This event truely changed my life.
- It gave me friendships that I will carry with me forever.
- I am beyond grateful for the experience.
- Connect it to something globally.
Interview Questions:
1. First off, can you give a short summary of the trip and what we did?
2. Why did you decide to go on a service trip? Do you remember why you specifically chose Dallas?
3. What surprised you about the trip? Did you have any previous expectations?
4. What impacted you about the trip in regards to the people you met and the events that you experienced?
5. One thing that really stuck with me was the last day when Deondre’s dad passed away. How did that experience effect you during the trip?
6. Do you feel like you learned about being vulnerable while you were there?
7. Do you still keep in touch with your mentees?
8. Would you say that this experience changed something about you? If so what did it change and are you grateful for that change?
9. What was your biggest take away from the trip?
10. Did you make any important relationships with people during the trip? If so, are these relationships still relevant to you in your daily life?
