Personal Narrative- Joy in Helping the Homeless
America's strong heritage with regard to allowing its citizens the right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" has brought about a mindset that each person should work for his own benefit and personal pleasure. While there is nothing wrong with happiness and enjoying oneself, this route to seeking out joy will usually leave people empty-handed. A recent experience with a homeless man strengthened my belief that true, satisfying happiness comes not from working for one's own benefit but from serving others.
About a week ago, I went to Capital City Mall with two friends to seek out a more enjoyable meal than I would find in State University’s cafeteria. As we approached the entrance to the mall, I saw a presumably homeless man standing near the door. Though I heard his request for spare change, I passed him by without much thought. I had only a few pennies and, having grown up only an hour from a large metropolitan area, I had been downtown enough times to know it's often unwise to even make eye contact with those begging for spare change. Normally, that would have been the end of the story and I would have had nothing else about which to write. But, something inside was nagging at me…I couldn't get the man off my mind. As I ate my meal from Panda Express, I found that there was more food than I could eat. I determined that the homeless man could make more use of the leftovers than the garbage can would. As I exited the mall, I approached the man and told him I couldn't give him any change, but I had some food for him. With shaky hands, possibly due to a handicap or the brisk, wintry air, he gratefully pulled out a Wal-Mart bag for me to put the food in. I slid my le...
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...ry weekend, or have a "good" family to be satisfied. I find joy not in feeling trapped working hard to advance myself so that I can begin the vicious cycle once again, but in helping others and looking out for their needs before mine. Just as in the movie Pay it Forward, where a young middle-school boy affects countless people by carrying out simple acts of kindness for their benefit, I can make a difference in this world by helping out even just one person in need.
Though my beliefs did not change through my experience with the homeless man, the event provided me with a strong, down-to-earth reminder that I don't need to accumulate millions of dollars to die a happy man. Rather, if I simply look for ways to attend to the needs of other people and do what I can to improve their lives, even in small ways, I can be satisfied with where I'm at and lead a happy life.
One subject that simply can not be ignored no matter where you find yourself in Anaheim. The homeless population in Anaheim is rapidly growing and there seems to be no end to this conundrum. Sadly, these poor individuals can be found anywhere some small amount of shelter is. Thus, you can constantly find them lingering around parks or on the sides of freeways waiting to beg the next passerby for enough money to make it through the day. In Anaheim they can usually found at the various parks we have around the city. The heart of a person is only so delicate to feel remorse or sadness whilst the less fortunate of society wanders within their eyes. But surprisingly enough when the time comes down to it you often hear the phrase,
It is the inquisitive nature of man that is primary driving force behind the Five W’s: Who, What, When, Where and Why. Though these are all meaningful pursuits in their own right, it is the purpose of this piece to shed light on the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Soviet Union’s purpose, as well as the most likely causes for its manifestation. Also in question, but not out of the scope of discussion, is whether or not non-aggression pacts truly work to preserve peace, or whether they are unintentionally one of the primary fuel sources that combust to cause war amongst the nations involved. The realist holds the key to this argument. The realist perspective sits alone as being the most concise angle from which to view the events transpired. However, without understanding a bulk of the history, a moderately concise answer cannot be delivered to the reader.
As James Madison, the fourth President of the United States said, “The religion of every man must be left to the conviction and conscience of every man, and it is right of every man to exercise it as they may dictate” (Haynes, C...
Proponents of a highly limited separation of church and state often argue that America’s founding fathers would be appalled at the extent to which the Judeo...
Winter, T. (2011), America as a Jihad State: Middle Eastern Perceptions of Modern American Theopolitics. The Muslim World, pp. 101: 394–411.
“Separation of Church and State Protects Both Secular and Religious Worlds.” Phi Delta Kappan Feb. 2000: 462.
The separation of church and state has been a long debated topic in the history of America. Although founded upon Christian ideals, the framers of the Constitution explicitly outlined the government to function secularly, in what is commonly referred to as the “Establishment Clause”. When interpreting the Constitution in regards to religion, there are two primary philosophies. The first philosophy this paper will explore will be referred to as Positive Toleration. In general, the idea of positive toleration creates an environment that is encouraging of all religions. The second philosophy, which will be referred to as the “Wall of Separation,” encourages government freedom from religion. Although historically these two philosophies have jockey back and forth in public popularity, as America moves into the future, the Wall of Separation philosophy will take a strong-hold and will set the course for how the Establishment Clause will affect local government, schools, and private religious practice.
Burns, Thomas J. "Islam." Religion and Society. OU Campus' Dale Hall, Norman. 14 Apr. 2014. Lecture.
Islam in America has historically been misunderstood, and this is due to the misconception of culture and religion as well as lack of education and incorrect portrayal in the media, which gives a skewed idea of Islam. Especially in the United States, Islam has been seen as the “terrorist religion” or a religion for the extremists and a religion in which freedom is not an option. Among the countless misconceptions, the basis of stereotypes by Americans is due to the mix up between religion and culture. Furthermore, the media only fuels fire to these misunderstandings and lack of factual information about Islam causing Americans to lash out on American Muslims without reason.
In this story, poverty and homelessness is the underlying problem. However another problem discussed is whether or not the potential loss of funding sources to help the homeless justify not standing up against policy that negatively affects the homeless population by causing unjust criminalization (Pg. 100). In my heart, and in a perfect world, I would never want to sacrifice my beliefs of fighting for the greater good of all people, but I understand that it is more complicated than this in real life. There is no doubt that we are all born with different opportunities. Our text explains some of the personal factors that determines who is homeless. Some of the contributing causes of homelessness include addiction, disability, mental illness,
Doing solely what an individual loves is a self-centered view of the world. While it is important to chase happiness, it is also important to reflect on what one is doing to spread happiness to the rest of the world. One must find something that they are good at, and put that into the world. They should contribute to others and help the world be better, in addition to following their passions. An individual’s acts of service may just become one of their many passions.
The “establishment” or “religion” clause of the First Amendment of the Constitution reads: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof” (Education Week, 2003, para. 2). It is from this clause that the idea of separation of church and state comes. It is also the basis for much of the debate regarding the practice of religion in public schools (Education Week, 2003). One of the big questions regarding the religion issue is where to draw the line between separation of church and state and religious freedom. The practice of religion in public schools can balance these two ends by allowing students to individually exercise their religious freedom, so long as they do not interfere with that of other students.
Of the roles John plays daily, he stated that “Being a homeless man is the main role I wish I could do less often; I would prefer not playing this role at all”, (John, personal communication, October 12, 2015). The sentiment is shared by many of the homeless individuals I have encountered, but not all. John said that this has been one of the biggest challenges he has ever faced, but he is certain this is just a temporary situation. And, from what I can tell from the short time I have known John, this statement is completely
I went to the grocery store and got cases of water, bags of bread, and stuff to make the sandwiches. I had finished preparing the bags and each had granola bars, fruit, ham and cheese sandwiches, water, toothpaste, and other hygiene products. My dad and I had arrived outside the homeless shelter and were ready to pass the bags out as we saw the swarm of people. Hundreds maybe even thousands of people gathered sitting in what little shade there was. I knew we had a homeless problem, but not to this extent and the bags I had made were going to make little to no difference on the vast amount of people that had been sitting outside. I was a little disappointed at first to be completely honest because I was not prepared for that many people. If I would have known there would have been so many people I would have made more bags. We drove around the block planning on what we were going to do and saw some tents set up. My dad and I were curious as to what they were, so we got out the car and saw that these people had been giving people food and I walked up to them and asked if there was any way I could help them. These people in the tents were actually an organization called Open Arms Outreach and a few girls scouts. They gladly let us help and we brought a few cases of water and the bags I had made and helped pass them out. The organization Open Arms Outreach
Each day an, “invisible” person wakes up wondering if they will have money to eat or even get something to drink. Waking up puzzled if you will get to eat that day is something nobody, even I could not possibly imagine doing. Most of today’s society will never know the struggle of something of that category. A dollar to a homeless person would be like a hundred dollars to an average person; they may not be financially stable but they make the best of every day they have above ground.