Saturday, November 29, 2008

Kelly Kraft
Understanding Literature
Blog 12.3
For my last event for literature class I attended the Non-Profit and Community Service Fair at Loyola. I originally wasn’t planning on attending this event. I pretty much have a plan for my life after college, I know I want to continue my education and become a teacher. I thought my last event would entitle going to see a play or attending another sponsored talk, two things I very much enjoy doing. The reason I attended the fair was because of an email that arrived two days before the Service fair. It was from my old social justice teacher Mrs. Curran. She was one of those teachers that really made an impact on you, that make you see things in a new light. Mrs. Curran’s classes became one of those classes where you go home and don’t mind doing the homework. Mrs. Curran was a Social Justice teacher and she believed in service and that all people deserve dignity. When she stated that in our classroom I truly believed it, she never went back on her word. First and fore most that’s what she wanted in the world. Everyone should have dignity and understand that service is a wonderful thing if we do it for the right reasons. Mrs. Curran left the year my class was over to teach at a non-profit school. We kept in touch even though very little; she was very busy. In her last email two days before the community service fair, she sounded excited. She said she would be representing her organization, and if I could I should come see her. This is how my event became the service fair. I’m glad it did.
I found my way into Mcquire hall and swiped my evergreen card. I thought about the service I have done, and at that time I didn’t think of Shakespeare and his play ‘Twelfth Night or, what you will’ but now as I do I see similarity. Sometimes mistaken identity can lead us to act upon and do some really outlandish things. In my social justice class we had to form small groups (4 people in each group) and participate in service. Mrs. Curran took me and 4 other people down to Viva House. Viva House is a soup kitchen, social activities house, and home for some. When I first arrived at Viva House I wasn’t relaxed and I wasn’t myself. The people I was serving made me nervous. The one thing that helped me was the list Mrs. Curran had made us write I reflected back on that list and laughed one thing I had written was; I expected ‘their’ behavior to be criminal. I felt a little better, suddenly I was a little more myself. People were so welcoming and loving. Maybe Shakespeare is right love makes us do crazy things like care and put people in front of ourselves. In today’s society that sometimes seems so random but it’s all around us; at Viva house it was a given.
Mrs. Curran now works for Bon Secours sharing the mission of healing, liberation, compassion, and all around Justice. Mrs. Curran is a teacher in inner Baltimore city. She says it’s a lot different than teaching at a Catholic school in Towson, Maryland but she really is enjoying it. There are so many things I want to thank Mrs. Curran for. One is for helping me realize who I was and what I believe in. Mrs. Curran never pushed her ideas on anyone she was always open. Instead though she just smiles at me and asks me about life and my studies. I wish one day I would learn to see dignity in all like her. I wonder about all those people in the community service fair living their life for service. When I was in high school I was taught a valuable lessons service must be done for the right reason.

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