This is a hard post. I've always been generally happy with my life, and grateful for the things that I have. But since I've been happy the majority of my life, its hard to pinpoint a time when I was most satisfied.
I guess perhaps that time that I was most satisfied/grateful was the summer of 2009. I had agreed to be a bible study leader for the Passport youth team based in Macon, GA. I spent the summer teaching Bible Study, working on mission projects, and helping people see God's love for them in little ways. Macon is a very interesting town, and is my favorite Passport site. The amount of work that can be done for people who deserve it is phenomenal and may never be completed. It was awesome to see youth stepping outside of their comfort zone to help a person or family they didn't know. I loved hearing the stories from the homeowners we were working with, and to see the smiles on most of their faces when they came outside to see the work the youth had done. But, it broke my heart every time we finished a project, and were about to leave, to see the tears streaming down the homeowners face, because they were so thankful for the work we did. The first house I worked on was Ms. Dinkins. We had a big project to do. We needed to scrape, clean, and paint her entire house. It felt like the hottest days of summer, and no matter how much water we drank, we could never get enough.
That house changed my life. Ms. Dinkins had a granddaughter that stayed with her. She had no air conditioning, and for those of you who haven't been to Macon, the average temperature from June-August is about 98 degrees, with heat indexes in the 100s and 110s. Despite the fact that she had so little, she managed to bring a snack out to our group every day, whether it was fruit snacks, granola bars, popsicles, or fresh fruit. A few of my youth would go in and eat lunch with her every day, and out up with the heat inside her house. Despite it being indoors, it was almost hotter inside than out because of the lack of breeze blowing through the open windows.
When we finished Ms. Dinkins' house after working on it for two weeks, I definitely realized how privileged I am. I would leave every day, and go back to Mercer's campus. I would walk into an air conditioned apartment, take a cold shower, and then maybe take a nap. I would walk to the dining hall and eat amazing food (for a college campus) and then head to another air conditioned building where we would get ready for worship.
I learned a lot from Ms. Dinkins and from Macon, GA. I realized that racism isn't dead, and probably never will be in some parts of America. I learned that some of the happiest people that I met that summer were ones that had the least amount of possessions, but had the biggest hearts. I was forever changed by that summer, and the summer that followed when I worked camp again. I felt guilty coming home to a room full of clothes, a comfortable bed, and thought twice about complaining that our house was too hot and that we needed to bump down the thermostat. Since then, I have felt that I have a new appreciation for my family and our position in life. I would gladly give Ms Dinkins the chance to live in my shoes for an entire year, but she wouldn't want that. She is happy where she is, and is just grateful that she has a house to live in and enough food to feed her granddaughter.
Thank you Ms. Dinkins, for impacting my life in many ways. I will be forever grateful to you.
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