Pass It Forward

The idea of this video is to show that after receiving help, the best way to pay someone back is to pass the good deed onto someone else. This relates to my project because when I help people at Our Daily Bread, I am making their lives better, so that they too can help other people farther down the road. Helping others makes them understand that they too have a responsibility to help others and this is what will make the world a better place.

One direct relationship that I see between this video and my project can be seen through one of the workers at Our Daily Bread. He shared his stories with me about how he used to be on the streets; poor and homeless. He came to another shelter similar to Our Daily Bread, looking for food and help. He got exactly what he wanted and the people there helped him build his live back together. Now, he volunteers many days of the week, not for money or for service hours, but instead to help others and pay back the blessings that were given to him.

Service

I think that service is a very vital part of learning and an important life experience because I have learned many good values and learned a lot about other people. Service is important as a life experience because it allows you to develop a different perspective on life and how it difficult it would be to be in someone else’s shoes. You realize that it is your job as a human being to help those who are less fortunate and to help them enjoy their lives as well. Doing service helps you to also remember the golden rule of doing onto others as you want them to do onto you.

Service is good for my own human dignity and for the dignity of other people because it shows that you care for others and it helps the other person feel that they have a purpose and reason for being alive. Serving others helps you to realize that to get through life you often need help. And for those people getting helped it makes them feel better and hopefully it teaches them to keep passing the good deeds to other people.

Common Good

Our Daily Bread is important to the Common Good because it serves those that are in a difficult place and need a helping hand. Our Daily Bread assists anyone, even if they are poor and homeless. It is a place for people to get food that they cannot afford and a shelter for some during the harsh winter weather. Many sacrifices have to be made to ensure that dignity is met for all. Some sacrifices include: many workers sacrificing their time to help and serve others, some people sacrifice a better paycheck so that they can help others, and of course some people sacrifice personal items and money to give to the poor.

But all good things have rules and procedures. To make sure that the service in Our Daily Bread takes place is that everyone must respect each other, the workers, and most especially the guests. Other standards include being kind and using proper manners in the dining area. One lesson that I have learned from this experience that I could apply to my peers at MSJ is that everyone must help out. At Our Daily Bread, the simple task of throwing away your own tray was considered helpful. So at MSJ if all the students do little things to make the school a better place, I am sure that there will be a positive outcome.

Human Dignity

When I first started volunteering at Our Daily Bread, it was a new experience because I was not used to being around the poor and homeless. Many of them had very old and scraggy looking clothing and some even had little bags that they seemed to keep food in. To me, they seemed very pathetic and helpless, but as I began working I saw that most of them were extremely glad to be alive and to just have somewhere to be. I was amazed at the positive attitudes many of them had and I realized that they were just like everyone else in the world.

While working I, the people I worked with, who were experienced and had apparently worked there many times before, treated all of the guests with respect and dignity. Even though many of the guests were homeless and poor, the workers acted as they were paying customers. One specific example of when I noticed the idea of human dignity was when one of the guests accidentally knocked over his food. One of the elder workers got down on his knees and began cleaning up the food and told the man that he would get him a new tray of food immediately. Even though the elder worker did not know the man, he showed him great respect.