Today I repaired a house.
Only five words. To put it out in letters and spaces is to oversimplify the power of the words so that it hurts.
Today I worked to build hope. I got to see the faces of three generations of individuals who all live under a roof that did not make them proud. I got to see how my labor was able to meld and join with the work of dozens of other volunteers, staff, and businesses to alleviate at least one tiny fragment of the stress that existed in this family’s life.
Today I worked to build a community. As the neighbors came out to complement, appreciate, and wonder at the color of the paint and the beauty of the windows, I got to see how this labor brought up not only the family living in the house, but the whole environment around it.
Today I worked to build a home. In the back of my mind, the only thought that could ever truly matter was that a family would get to come home each day to this place that they would find beautiful. The knowledge that at the end of the day another human being will get to live better than they did before,—that knowledge is what defines service.
Through my service internship I have gotten to briefly peak at the struggles of those in need, those who were put at a disadvantage; not through any action they ever took, but through a broken system that our society unintentionally created. In my short time of serving, I have come to recognize that true assistance to an individual must come not from a desire to simply help, but rather from a desire to become that person for a moment. To step into their shoes and imagine life from their eyes. Only then, once an individual works to empathize and exist as another, can true service happen.
written by Adam Resnick, ECC student working with Habitat for Humanity
