Community Service Activities Through The Alternative Breaks Program At Florida

People tend to brush off something or ignore something that we do not understand or like. Many Americans do this. So if most of America does this, then what gets done with that problem? Nothing! Barbara Lazear Ascher’s ‘On Compassion’ shows this to a new level. She shows us how the homeless is struggling and everyone turns their heads about it even though it is a big problem in New York City. Ascher’s use of good logos, pathos, and ethos comes together to show people what we are all guilty of at some point in our life. She shows us how the person 's reaction of a homeless person is to how the homeless person reacts to them.

Always, I was told from parents and elders that anyone can achieve their dreams through arduous work and dedication. Surprisingly, I hadn’t pondered this until I observed a shivering homeless person standing at the corner asking for help on one snowy, frosty winter day. This affected my life greatly. On the way, I just started thinking about the life of homeless people and how they are not fortunate enough to get their own place to live, their choice of delicious food to eat and several other amenities that we all enjoy in our everyday lives. An incident, like this, sparked an enthusiastic sense of compassion and empathy in me. Along with my family, I started thinking deeply and my thoughts to help the homeless expanded to other areas and I wanted to start helping the community around me as much as possible.

Where does the compassion that most of humanity have come from? Is it fear, guilt or just the drive to be good people that instills compassion within us? Barbara Ascher discusses this and humanity’s treatment of the homeless in her essay “On Compassion.” Ascher utilizes rhetorical questions, introspective diction, and shortened syntax in order to effectively convey an inquisitive and hopeful attitude towards the way the homeless are treated.

I offer my services to the community in a way that many people wouldn’t expect. Due to financial issues I wasn’t able to volunteer the way that I wanted to but that didn’t change anything. In my area and amongst peers I have become someone they can come to in times of needs, whether it’s for a place to sleep, a hot meal, or an outlet for their emotional and mental distress. I have done extensive research on how to handle certain mental illnesses and emotional outburst so I can be prepared to give everyone the care they need. I am also very active in educating other members of my family and community about mental illness, sexual abuse, and emotional abuse in the black community. I found that there are many ways to give back to the community.

For Father’s Day this past year my family and I treated our Dad to a Houston Astros baseball game. The game was held at Minute Maid Park in the heart of Downtown Houston. We were running late for the game and it began to rain. While driving around I witnessed more homeless people on the streets than ever. As we walked to the stadium after parking, I could not help but think about each of their (the homeless) situation. It was daunting to me that they were spending a holiday alone and it was a norm for them. Homeless people are often not given the time of day by everyday citizens. Chris Hadfield explains that when a problem exists, human nature causes us to bolt from the situation rather than approach it immediately (Hadfield 55). Currently (2016) there are approximately two million Houstonians (Suburban Stats) and of those, more than 5,000 citizens are homeless (Homeless Houston). It is easy to forget about the homeless because they are neglected from society. If homeless people were given a purpose, then they would not be occupying space on the streets.

Where we are is the grand culmination of hundreds of years of cooperating as a species to make for a grander environment that appeals to “all.” Despite our constant effort to improve the quality of life on earth, however, an increasingly tremendous problem pertaining the same subject has been growing “right below our noses”: homelessness. We, the common people, typically place those in such plight into great disregard; push them not off the streets but to the far back of our heads. In the article “On Compassion”, former NEW YORK TIMES columnist, Barbara Ascher, teaches us the ignorance of our denial and the importance of the helpless’ presence, and she does this through the heavy use of contrast, figurative language, a good quantity of rhetorical questions, and some very clever wording. She suggested that the presence of the homeless helps teach us compassion. Afterall, “compassion is not a character trait like a sunny disposition. It must be learned.”

I see myself, and want others to see me, as a compassionate individual. During high school, I tutored incoming freshmen in history and biology. I was once in their shoes, so I knew how important it was to have someone to help me out with what I was struggling with. In my junior and senior years of high school, I volunteered with the Bloodcenter of Wisconsin and the Red Cross, assisting donors when they felt uncomfortable, and donating blood myself. I also knitted scarves for the homeless with my church. Doing things for others comforts me because I know it makes them breathe a little easier. When I was a senior in high school, I talked a close friend out of committing suicide. I have never been homeless, but I have been a struggling

Homelessness exists as a prominent issue that plagues society in various ways. It brings about hardship and controversy as individuals struggle to survive on a daily basis. Additionally, this complication tears families apart and ostracizes individuals from a society where they once belonged. A specific problem regarding homelessness consists of lack of interest from bystanders; some of these spectators refuse to even acknowledge homeless individuals sitting at their feet. As homeless people live their lives on street-corners, the more fortunate members of society choose to engulf themselves in their personal problems alone. Displayed by their clothing and accessories, most of these individuals possess the ability to help in some way;

Ascher believes observing the adversity of homelessness is a necessity in learning compassion because “Compassion is not a character trait. . .It must be learned, and it is learned by having adversity at our windows” (Cohen 42). Ascher believes we can learn and grow from others' adverse experiences without being a part of it. Although Ascher would have us believe we can learn compassion simply through observing adversity at our windows (homelessness), Eighner would likely disagree because he has struggled in adversity and learned the importance of true sentiment first hand, not through observation. Eighner writes of the importance of having an intimate connection with adversity in his own homelessness, “Once I was the sort of person who invests material objects with sentimental value. Now I no longer have those things, but I have the sentiments yet. . . .The things I find in dumpsters, the love letters and ragdolls of so many lives, remind me of this lesson” (Cohen 157, 158). Eighner has grown and holds sentiment in those lessons because he had those experiences, not because he has simply observed others. Ascher gives us a lesson in learning from adversity but does so from an outsiders' point of view while Eighner's personal experience contrasts to shows us that much can be learn from experiencing adversity more intimately.

From shoveling driveways or helping rake lawns for the senior citizens in my neighborhood I’m always there to lend a helping hand. However, some actions I take in my community are not done for other families but for my own. The responsibilities I have overtaken through the years in my household have definitely helped improve my maturity, and my character. I do these actions not to gain recognition, but instead to service my community and to aid those in need. Each day I aim to improve myself and to improve the community around me. Through doing that I exemplify these ideals, and will teach others of doing the same to keep our community

Dalai Lama once said “Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive.” But how does one learn how to love or feel compassion for others? People all around the world wonder why the feel compassion for others. Most people feel compassion because it helps them understand how others are feeling so they can respond appropriately to a certain situation. Barbara Lazear Ascher, a former attorney and a current author, focused on compassion and how it is developed by people. Ascher’s purpose is to show that compassion is not something that you are born with, it is something that you have to learn and practice throughout your lifetime. A way to practice compassion is when you see homeless. Ascher’s reaches her

I wasn’t aware of the importance of doing good for others, until recently that I witnessed it with my own eyes. It all started when was at Chicago, a random man helped out a homeless man and bought him some food. I noticed as I was in line that the cashier then gave the helping man a free choice to pick something he wanted due to the action he did. After that day I began to make an attempt at helping out more and being a better person in general.

Having grown up as an only child in a single parent home all of my life, I lived and endured a great amount of uncertainty as to who I really was as an individual during my early formative years. It wasn’t until my high school years, that I began forming my compassion for community service and being of assistance to people that had not lived as protected of an existence as I had. In my

The happiness that I received from giving to the needy has helped better prepare me for my job and it has given me special skills to help me with my current and future job. Jonathan E. Booth wrote,“Wilson emphasized that knowledge acquired from volunteering can lead to socioeconomic achievement in the workplace, which may result in a more positive reputation on the job, help in finding future work, or enhancement of the quality of [the current] job (Booth Pg 233).” The knowledge that I left with after feeding the homeless has helped me to be effective in job and my everyday life. It has helped me to have a more positive attitude and has made me more equipped in my job and my hobbies. Mr. Booth said,“While

I was so nervous, I kept mapping out the exit plans in this room. I didn’t want to be there because I had just got heaps of new toys. We hosted two wonderful ladies named Dolly and Betty. We made a desert and decorated the table while the shelter provided the Christmas dinner. As I sat there, I was just counting hours, eating my food, and dreaming about which toy I was going to use first. As boredom overtook me, I began to listen to the conversations at the table. Dolly was a woman who had been homeless for 6 months. Her husband had died and he was the main source of income, so without his money she had lost her home. She had just started the Bridge to Life program that helped homeless people get their life back on track. Through 10 months of different steps, the shelter helped get them a job and pay off debts while housing and feeding them. As I heard this, I began to realize that some homeless people were not just druggies. They were people that had stories. They had fallen on hard times and couldn’t get back on their feet. I could feel myself soften and become more interested in what was happening with them. I began to ask questions and Dolly told it like it was, without sugarcoating the cold hard truth. I felt guilty for previously complaining about not being able to play with my new toys and these people didn’t even have a home much less security like I did. I had such a perspective shift the next year I asked to serve on Thanksgiving. We volunteered to be servers and take the shelter occupants’ order. We then got the food and served it to them like a five-star restaurant. As I served more people, I began to see the gratitude and thankfulness in these people’s heart. I tried to locate Dolly but she had done so well in the program and moved out in her own house. Hearing about her success