Service

Random fact before I start: Today is Robert E. Lee's birthday. There are people out there who are celebrating. Random, I know, but I just saw it on the news.
Okay, now for the real story: today is MLK Day and Southern has dedicated it to serving others. The Asian club decided to help out a kindergarten adventist school just across the train tracks. I personally think that we should have gone a little bit further out of our little bubble.. but that's just me.
This day of service was good for the soul in more ways than one. First of all, it got me out of bed on a non-school day, in time to see what a beautiful day it was. Secondly, I got to spend more time with a friend of mine whom I don't usually get to spend one-on-one time with. It was fun. Thirdly, the gratitude we received when we had finished was overwhelming. It was almost ridiculous how profuse they were in thanking us when we really didn't feel like we had made any difference. It was nice, though. Very nice, in fact.
It got me wondering why Southern doesn't encourage more community service throughout the year. Why is it that we set aside one day for service when we could be doing this all year long. I know we have other programs going on, but that doesn't diminish the fact that we are here to serve as Jesus came to serve. It would be nice to be able to do this more often--it is a very good bonding experience for students who would otherwise not have met.