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Acts of Kindness: Acts of Love
What acts of kindness have I done and am looking forward to doing this upcoming school year? To me, If I’m looking to make a change in this world and make it a better place, they can’t only be acts of kindness. They need to be acts done out of love. I think love is the deeper message here. Something can be a kind deed, but not done out of love. So, for me, I would rather look at it as what acts of kindness have I done, or will I do out of love for the betterment of this world.
Since I was a little kid I have always felt the need to do something great for this world. I owe part of this to my parents who pushed me to achieve as much as I could. My father once told me that if I wanted to do something great for the good of this world that the place to start is doing the small, daily things with great love. He obtained this saying from Mother Theresa. She was an amazing example of kindness and love to this world which is why this saying is something I try to apply to my life each day.
Last year, I had the chance to serve the homeless of Detroit on most Saturday’s with my church. For me, the experience was very new and incredible. We would make up bags of food for them as well as clothes and every day necessities at my church. Then we would go out to an abandoned lot and set everything up while a line of about 800-1000 homeless would start forming. What did I enjoy most about it? It wasn’t giving them food, or clothes even though I did enjoy it and it was the main point of the service. It was building relationships with them and getting to understand their lives. People from all different backgrounds, races, and ethnicities coming together and sharing their lives with each other. It was a beautiful sight. Their testimonies were incredible and powerful. Most of them lacked necessities, yet they were still so happy and thankful for everything that they had. Some of them I will still talk to on Facebook today and see how they are doing. Some of them have jobs and homes now and others are in the same place as before. Everyone I’ve talked to since then is still extremely thankful for what we did for them. I valued the relationships I made with some of them more than the service itself. The service is something I knew would end, but the relationships lasted and will continue to last. To this day I feel they have helped me more than I’ve helped them.
Now, this year I’m in Mexico for a mission trip and have tried applying everything I’ve learned in Detroit here. Sure enough, almost the exact same thing happened. I started serving the homeless in January doing various things. Some days I will help teach mathematics and science at free schools for the poor and other days I will give food on the streets. The relationships I’ve made with some of the homeless here will never go away. There was one man named Fernando that I was especially fond of. Every day that I saw him his face lit up with a huge grin and then he said, “Hi, I hope you have been having a great day”, with a rough Spanish accent. Even though he knew I spoke Spanish, it was just a small way he showed his appreciation for me. We would share our lives with each other and he explained to me that he didn’t used to be homeless. He was a construction worker for a big company and made a decent living. Than one day a concrete block fell on his hand from two stories. His hand had to be cut off and from then on, nobody would hire him. Shortly after his wife left him with his daughter for a different man. He had so much loss, yet he was one of the happiest men I knew in my life. Just two weeks ago I found out that Fernando had passed away during his sleep. I was devistated because I had lost a great friend. I was happy though that I had become good friends with this man. I miss his love and friendship more than anything now. His life had brought so much peace and joy to me as well as given me a chance to think about what my priorities are. Now I can say my eyes are opened wider than ever before and I’m ready to do whatever I can to serve.
I’ve seen a huge correlation between these two services. People need to be loved and heard. People need mutual relationships where they can love and are loved back even more. The homeless lack necessities, yet still are happier than most. This is because the one thing they really value is love. I’ve been told time and time again from a few of the friends I have made of the homeless that the only thing that matters to them is their families, friends, and faith. When you live with no material possessions, then the only thing that’s left is relationships.
Going forward, I’m planning to be involved in community service at my school with the homeless in August. Serving the homeless has left a soft spot in my heart. It’s left me with a craving of wanting to do more. I’m not finished, and I never will be finished. There will always be someone in need. Someone to reach out to that is struggling. We can always offer something. Even if it’s not money or food, it can be friendship and love. We should not settle for seeking the gratification of doing a good deed just because it’s good. We should seek the gratification of building relationships that last in whatever circumstance we may be in. Acts of kindness is a good place to start, but doing small acts of kindness out of great love is how we will change the world.
"In this life we cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love." —
-Mother Teresa
