So… not exactly what I expected in ANY aspect, but that's a good thing :-)
I’m having a BLAST, but I kind of thought that this would be like an Alpha Phi Omega conference, but I was WRONG!!!! These people are HARD-CORE! They all eat, breathe, and sleep service. Some of these people have actually been here for a year or more working to help restore New Orleans. It’s a truly amazing experience, although today was not what I expected… these kids were… wild, to say the least. It was kind of disheartening to see the lack of respect that CHILDREN, and that’s just kindergarten and first grades, had for each other, their teachers, us, and themselves. Now, right off the bat, I’m going to just let it be stated that not ALL of the children were as… spirited, as the others, but the majority were just unlike anything I’ve ever seen. They pushed, kicked, punched, swore, and threw the middle finger like all of the screen icons they emulate so well. They knew every last vulgar word of every rap and hip-hop song out there, with every expletive accented to the fullest extent. Their teachers were stern and unwavering, but by the end of the night we were, too. It just seems that the only way to combat their violent and offensive behavior was with a cold, callowness that prevented any deep connection, which is what they all really need on the inside. These kids have already missed a year of school, on top of dealing with all of the other repercussions of the hurricanes, so the things they’ve been through are unimaginable compared to anything we can conjure up in our minds. They fall into this pattern of despair that we as individual cannot free them from. Our ways and ideas as a society need to change drastically in order to protect future budding young minds from being warped and wasted. I’ll pray for these youths tonight, in the hopes that someone can step in to make that slight gesture in their life which changes their attitude and brightens their disposition. We are needed down here SO MUCH MORE than I EVER imagined. Tomorrow I’ll be tackling some roofing, which has me a BIT nervous, but I’m ready to take on anything after today’s endeavor!
On a lighter note, this city is GORGEOUSLY AWE-INSPIRING!!!!!! The architecture, the people, the sights and sounds… AMAZING!!!! We haven’t even hit the French Quarter yet, but I’m still blown away by the ability of a city that’s faced so much to be so breathtaking. We met a one-legged man named Rogis today who told us all of the ins-and-outs of the City of Hope. We ate in this local little dive called Juan’s Flying Burrito, and ordered their signature “Flying Burrito” to split between my buddies Christie, Ryan, and myself. It was stuffed full of the typical burrito fixin’s, chicken, beef, and LOUISIANA SHRIMP!!! It was a true palate-pleaser. I can’t wait to hit the city some more and take EVEN MORE PICTURES (which will soon be available on my Facebook) tomorrow after a hard day’s work! I’m really starting to think that this is the call for service that I’ve felt all my life exemplified. This could be the way in which I spend the REST of my life. “Service is the rent we pay for our room here on earth.” ~Muhammad Ali. I met this kid Jason who’s traveling with an Ameri-Corp team, and what they do is travel around helping people, picking up free federally-funded room and board along the way. They sign on for 10 months, with most people using it as a source of college funding, and travel around the country in areas where service is needed. I want to finish out my time at Albright, of course, because throwing away a free ride to school in a place I love would just be ridiculous, but I could see it as a way to spend some time after college if I’m still unsure of what I want to do in my life… WHO KNOWS WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS???