Service Learning Reflection

Thankfully, as this assignment's rolled around for the second time, I am actually prepared with an experience of service to reflect upon! I went to the Lord's Acre farm to give my time and labor to people who need it. Like in most instances of my life, I had no real solid expectation of how I was going to react to the new experience, and I tried my damnedest to make sure my attitude was one of open-mindedness and willingness to put forth effort. With this mind-set, one can tackle just about anything life can throw at them.

This is a sidenote regarding a personal quirk I have; I don't like to take pictures of life events very often, as I think it is sometimes better to have the memory stored in my mind and only there. So naturally, I didn't take any pictures of the Lord's Acre, though I did soak in the view around me to say the least. It was a beautiful day of a nearly perfect temperature, with sprawling views of the Blue Ridge all around us, fall colors abounded, and any mediocre attempts at iPhone photography could have easily spoiled that for me.

At the farm though, we helped as being a source of large scale free labor. Usually those poor souls at the Lord's Acre are very shorthanded unless it's a volunteer session. It did feel rewarding knowing that us going out and having a day away from campus working with the land not only helped my mental state, but that it helped a very nice organization/establishment. I stripped up their drip-irrigation lines to clear the way to harvest their sweet potato crop, and later helped in the actual collection. I also helped weed some sections of their beds, and it was fun to just dig around in the ground and forget about obligations back at school or in my daily life. It was nice to feel like a part of a community of people who help one another because they can. In the future with my service experiences, I'd love to have them be as personally rewarding as this Lord's Acre trip was. It turned my sort-of-apathy towards service learning around a good bit. I won't dread the idea of giving my time from now on, I believe.