Ubc Application Essay

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.

Imagine feeling lost and not knowing what to do or where to go. Spending each night on the streets, which you call your bed. Casting a presence that constantly pushes people away from you. Scavenging through garbage cans to eat what others saw as trash. These problems just touch the surface of the homeless life. Authors Herman Melville and John Grisham discuss the issues of poverty, hunger, and homelessness. As Americans, what is our duty when we see our brother in need?

One assumption about the homeless is that they are lazy and aren’t hard working, and aren’t interested in becoming self-sufficient. Conversely, many do seek a better life, but their efforts may be marked by misfortune. Darius Bryant was almost out of high school when his mother became unable to care for him. He was college bound and found himself staying over with friends or shelters and, eventually, unsure from where his next meal would come (Bauer, 2012). Eventually, he arrived at the acquaintance of Pastor Scott Eberlein of Trinity Lutheran Church. “Pastor Scott,” as

Homelessness is a social condition in which people live on the streets due to mental illness, drug addiction, or poverty, and is a social problem that is very unjust. On some of my family’s recent vacations to big cities like San Francisco and Chicago, I saw many homeless people trying to survive on the streets by asking for spare change. One of the most notable times I’ve seen homelessness was in Chicago. While I was there, I saw many homeless families, around 15. It was one of my first contact with homelessness and I felt awful seeing so many people in poverty. Some people were holding up dirty cardboard signs with torn clothes, while others were asking people for spare change. Many people, including myself, walked straight past them, ignoring their cries for help. I had to do something, so I did give a small donation. Hopefully, it would help in the long-run. Overall, homelessness is a condition that we should try to eliminate.

5. Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others. [Revised]

While walking the streets of Argentina during my two-year service mission, I came across many people who were in dire circumstances and often depended on the kindness of others to make it through the day. One moment in particular, however, stands out in my mind and highlights Mr. Huntsman’s words. While walking the city streets, my companion and I passed a homeless man. I felt that we should talk to him and see if we could help him in some way. When we asked him if we could help him in some way, he broke down and began to cry. Through his tears he told us he needed a new pair of shoes, but could not afford them. Looking at his feet, we could see they were in terrible condition. and we knew we needed to help him. We left the man and quickly

I was 10 years old when I began going to a homeless ministry named Solomon’s Porch and I hated it with every inch of my being. Every Saturday morning my father would wake me up at 7am to take me to downtown Dallas, and I would nag my heart out- begging him to let me stay home to watch Saturday morning cartoons. But he would not relent. Solomon’s porch would take place in the worst part of Dallas, a place where graffiti, trash, and homeless people were everywhere. But in the mist of all the rundown buildings there was a little church that let the ministry come and fed the homeless breakfast and lunch. After going for than a year my dad started forced me out of the church, where I would watch Disney movies to actually helping in the breakfast

As a child growing up in Communist China, I woke up every morning to the blasting of People's Central Broadcasting Station from a large radio on the dresser and fell asleep every evening in the surreptitious murmuring of Voices from America from a small radio by Grandpa's pillow. By fourth grade, I figured out that the two stations often reported the same events from opposite standpoints, using different words and tones, and thus projected contradictory interpretations onto the same events. Eager to share this revelation with my grandparents, I pointed out the differences between the two stations by singing their respective theme songs and by imitating the voices of their newscasters. To my disappointment,

I saw a man on a black empty bucket that had been turned upside down. He was sitting quietly holding a sign that read “homeless- anything will help”. My thoughts suddenly calmed and my clammy hands began to dry. I looked him in the eyes and could see the pain and loneliness that I was going to try to take away for a moment. I walked right up and asked “Sir would you like a free lunch?” his face looked confused as he just looked at me and asked “Is it really free?” I assured him that it was no cost and I wanted to give this to him for nothing in exchange. His dark skinned face lit up and the 4 teeth he had glistened as he smiled and said “God bless you thank you.” He immediately ravaged the bag and began to eat the ham sandwich with Cheetos in a small bag on the side. I felt a sense of shame knowing that he had to question if he deserved this meal. My stomach tightened and my feet hit the ground a little harder with each step as I thought about the difference I can make by showing these people they are deserving of everything I am. I am not any better just because of where I live or the friends I have. The adrenaline pulsating through my body propelled me to walk to every person I saw sitting on a bench or in a box- not making any assumptions of why they were there because all I could think about was bringing a smile to their

I looked at my bagel, my brother didn’t eat his half, I then looked at the man, then back at my bagel. I also remembered seeing him digging through trash for food. I felt bad for him and I knew he had to be hungry, so I figured I’d offer him my bagel. I mean, there was no need for it to go to waste. So after I got up I offered my bagel to the man. He didn’t want it. He didn’t like blueberries. I assured him that I hadn’t bitten off of it. Still, he didn’t like blueberries and didn’t want it. I ended up throwing the bagel away, and I realized that the way I viewed the homeless was all wrong. I viewed them as victims of bad decisions that got the best of them and messed up their priorities, but hearing the man; whom I watched get food from a trash can reject perfectly good food which hadn’t touched any type of waste or even been biten off of, I realized they choose to be homeless. They choose to not do anything and want to be homeless. I believe that after watching Homeless to Harvard, I support my opinion I formed even more. Liz and Chris were homeless. Liz decided to do something and become something. While Chris decided to do nothing and to stay

When I was young, I grew up in a middle-class family, and my parents provided all of my needs. Seeing a person sitting on the side of the street begging for money, in ragged clothings, tugs and aches my heart. I remember asking my parents for money to give to a man, and I weeped when I turned away. My parents had taught me to give and not expect something in return through their acts of kindness. However, I know that the amount I give will not be able to change their lives completely. I want to share what I have with someone who has so little compared to what I have. Just thinking about this subject causes me to tear up. Growing up, I have always felt sympathetic for homeless people who have no home to return to at the end of the day.

As I was listening to music on my iPod touch, I heard a kid on the bus say he saw a guy holding up a “feed us” sign. I turned my head and noticed a man, probably around 40 years old who had a family of 3 kids and a wife with them on the side. They were wearing tattered clothes that they probably had for years and they were extremely dirty from sleeping outside every night. We still had extra burritos in the car and my friend Lola asked Nick, the other counselor if we could give them to the poor family. We immediately pulled over and introduced ourselves to the family. I stood in the back alone because I had never seen a homeless person before and I thought they were one of those people who offered you candy or tricked you into getting into your car and then you’d disappear

While anticipating a 4-month trip to Southeast Asia, I knew that I had a million new experiences and feelings to look forward to. The reflecting I’ve done since I’ve been home has been proven to be more than anything I expected. It is what has inspired me to believe in myself enough to apply to UWB and start chasing what I want out of my life. I didn’t think I could be the type of person that could take a trip like that, it gave me confidence knowing that I am capable of doing absolutely anything I have the desire to, despite the setbacks I’ve faced along the way.

Being a hopeless romantic and consistently looking at life as if it is a poem ready to be written, my expectations for my act of kindness were at a high peak. I’ve often had a fascination with the homeless, and at times, even a sort of envy towards them. To be able to float freely, unbound by society’s confinements. When deciding I wanted to sit down, eat, and talk with a homeless person, I looked forward to the mounds of understanding I hoped to gain. But upon

During my summer after graduation, I went to my local Wal-Mart to buy some groceries. On my way out of the store’s parking lot, I noticed many homeless individuals on the backside of the building. Many of them looked like life got the best of them and others seemed to have a mental problem based on the way they were speaking. I went home and felt guilty that I had all these groceries and a home to come back to while others didn’t have the same luxury. I spoke to my friends about what I saw and how seeing the homeless population not receive any attention upsets me. It’s almost as if people walk past them as non-existent objects or when they do get noticed, they get ticketed and treated like criminals. I expressed my concerns and encouraged my friends to join me in bringing some sort of joy into these homeless people’s lives. They asked me what I had in mind and I simply said, “We should give back what we can.” To my surprise, they were excited to help out the homeless around our community. Seeing that we were all in agreement, I told them who should bring what, what day we would do it, what time, and where around El Cajon we would drive to. I lead my group of 3 people (not including myself) about four times throughout the summer. We all played a role and brought different items from clothes for both men and women, water, can foods, supplies, and other essential needs. We all paid out of our own pocket to bring smiles or at least some sort of relieve to these individuals.