Be the Change
One event that my youth group at church participates in is Be the Change. During this weekend, all who were there got to experience what it's like to not have as much as we do. At night, we played a game where we had to fight for food and see how long we could survive with it. The next morning we had to go outside without shoes and "hunt" for our food. We had to go out and pretend to get it, which people in other countries have to do. During this game, we had to compete with other teams to get as much food as we could in the shortest time possible. The game involved running through the yard and knocking fruit off trees. For breakfast we ate a traditional meal of rice, beans and some fruit. Then we made about 300 bagged lunches for the Light of Life Ministry in Allegheny County. When we finished, we drove the lunches down to the Light of Life building. We didn't get to hand them out, but we did get a tour of the housing complex. At this place any man in need can have a place to sleep, eat, and to get help. This service also is available to women, but they stay in a hotel.
During all of this, I really began thinking about how lucky I am to have everything I do. Enough food and clean water. To have shelter, to have a family. Some people don't have anything; they don't know when their next meal may be. And I'm not just talking about other countries: many people in Pittsburgh live like this. There are about one thousand five hundred homeless people in Allegheny County alone (Our Mission). Along with homelessness, many people, even children, are food insecure, which means that they don’t always have the ability to get enough healthy, nutritious food. This affects about twenty one percent of all of Pennsylvania’s children (Child Hunger Hurts Pennsylvania). We have so much that they don’t, and we should be thankful for those things.
Take a moment to be thankful for all you have this Thanksgiving. Who in your life are you grateful to have? What are some of the physical things you are appreciative of? Your house? Clean water? Some families would do anything to have all that you do this holiday season.
This experience showed me a lot of things. Not only should I be thankful for all I have, but also that I can help others who don’t have as much.
Works Cited
“Child Hunger Hurts Pennsylvania”. Pittsburgh Food Bank. Greater Pittsburgh
Community Food Bank. 2014. Web. 18 November 2014.
<https://www.pittsburghfoodbank.org/resources/about-hunger/childhunger/>
“Our Mission”. Light Of Life Rescue Mission. Light Of Life. Web. 16 November 2014.
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Hello! I have been tryng so much to find such articles that address world crises and I'm not disappointed. Although your grammatical skills need a bit of work, I say that you are absolutely thoughtful for writing such an article, to make people realise that they are so very lucky to have the things that they have, and to acknowledge the difficult lives of the poor. We very seriously need to take steps to help the poor and raise awareness amongst people about their suffering.
We should be thankful not just on Thanksgiving but on every moment of every day. For every little gift we have; from being able to breathe to not having some crippling disease.
Thank you!
Wow, this was neat! First of all, I am so jealous of the trip/retreat you took, that sounds like something everyone should do at least once. I like the topic of this as well, I wrote a poem about the same thing practically. We well fed people can be such snobs honestly sometimes. Answering your question I'm thankful for this great group of supporting friends I have currently. I'm also non the less thankful for every little thing that happens for it does have a purpose somewhere in our life. Lastly, a massive thank you for writing this and making me think more about the next time I complain. I won't forget this. Nice job
Thank you for the review! It was a really amazing trip! Just imagine what would happen if everyone had that experience! I always try to think about how much I have compared to many others when I want something. Have a happy holidays and happy new year!
This is a very good essay! It's indeed very important to remember how amazingly lucky most of us are over the holidays; food and shelter are scarcer than we imagine.
What I liked most, though, was that you included sources. This makes your statements of statistics very credible, as we know that you did your research.
My biggest problem is that you didn't actually answer your own question "what can we do to help?" It's always important to realize what you have, but what can we give back? Adding the answer to the question that you included in your preview would make this essay even stronger.
Great job overall. ^.^ I hope to see more of your essays in the future.
Thank you for the advice! Looking back on the piece now I see how I could have made it better by answering that question. Thanks again!