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Laws of Life Essay, Emily Newsome

Maxim:  Think of giving not as a duty but as a privilege.  ~ John D. Rockefeller Jr.

Character trait: Giving

Many people may think that it is better to receive than to give. I myself once thought that I liked it better when I received things rather than gave things. That all changed over Christmas holidays when I went to Mississippi with my church youth group.

It all started around October of 2005 when my youth leader told the youth group that she would like to take a trip to Mississippi to deliver Christmas gifts for the less fortunate. My initial reaction was less than enthused. I didn't like the idea of taking part of my Christmas vacation away to travel to a place I had never been to take presents to someone I had never even met before. Over the next couple of months my youth group worked hard raising money to buy the gifts for the family we had in mind. We were all ready to go and had high intentions. That is everyone except me. My mind set was still centered on me and what I wanted and didn't want.

The time had finally come for our youth group to head out. We left a couple days after Christmas. With all my new things from Christmas snuggled tight beside me, I was beginning to think that maybe this trip would not be as bad as I was making it out to be. After all, I was with people who I liked to be around, I was enjoying the rest of my break, and I was getting away from home. The trip took around five hours. By the time we arrived I was ready to get off the bus and find a warm place to sleep. Little did I know that we would be delivering the gifts to the family that night before we even checked into the hotel and could get sleep.

We went to a church that had helped us find the needy family.  Once we got there, the family had not yet arrived so we had a little time to gather what we had gotten and get it all nice for them when they arrived. We waited there for about another fifteen minutes, then the family arrived. What I had been picturing as a mom, a dad, and a couple of kids was no more than a mother and her six year old little girl. That is when I started feeling guilty for all my bad thoughts about this trip and the way I had acted. This mom and little girl made me realize how much I had, how I should be thankful for what I did have. I now had a new view of giving instead of receiving. I am now more excited that I got to share in the giving of the only Christmas presents that little girl and her mother got that year.
 
Since then I have had a whole new outlook on giving to people. I now enjoy what I do get to do for people of the less fortunate. I am glad that I learned this very important lesson early on in life. Not only will it help me to give better, but also be more generous to receive. I believe this is one of the essentials to learn in life.

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