Reflective Essay

To be diverse is to have an absence of uniformity. With an absence of uniformity, we can experience traits, opinions, and situations other than our own, which help us to develop new traits, form new opinions, and encounter new situations. These changes are what keep our world progressing forward. The summer before my freshman year of high school, I came up against such a situation that altered my perspective on humanity. It was a situation of service that threw the meaning and importance of diversity in my face.

My youth group went up to Tennessee to work with an organization called the Appalachian Service Project, ASP for short. ASP works with impoverished families living in and around the Appalachian Mts. They help construct homes, literally and figuratively, around these families, providing support in whatever way they can. We were assigned to the Phillips family. Our job was to see if we could return running water to the one bathroom, add doors to the two bedrooms, replace warped paneling, and put flashing around the chimney on the roof (the lack of flashing is what damaged the paneling in the first place).

The first time I walked through the door of their tiny, rundown dwelling, I thought to myself, "What disaster has happened here?" The entire house was packed in with useless junk that had a single trail made out so that one could walk through without tripping. This is when I truly grasped the fact that not everybody lives the same way I do. However, just as pity began to seep into my mind, I stepped over the threshold and smelled… fried chicken. And biscuits. Think of the best chicken biscuit you've ever had and multiply its goodness by ten. Then add three smiling, genuinely warm-hearted people into the mix and you've got contentment. Mr. Phillips, Ms. Phillips, and Patricia make up one of the happiest, most satisfied families you could ever meet.

Despite their not-so-perfect living condition, they have a superb vegetable garden from which they get a majority of their food. Mr. Phillips, even though he is dreadfully poor, gives away baskets of tomatoes and peppers to family and friends instead of selling them. As he put it, "I just feel like it's nice to do. I like giving away my tomatoes. People like them." They also boast an impressive flock of chickens and keep a pig or two. I was amazed at how they could take such good care of these animals and not of their house or themselves.

What I learned is that these things are not what mattered. What was important was how these people accepted what they had and were thankful for it. I had expected this family to be sad and desperate. I had imagined ourselves as something like heroes coming in the nick of time to save their house and save their lives. But I was wrong. These people were happy, satisfied, and at peace with the world. They simply have their share of troubles just like anyone else and occasionally they might need help. That was our job; to give them the boost they needed so that they could continue on with their lives. They didn't so much worry about the material things, but regarded life and love seriously and did not take them for granted. They were happy with their lives overall, just not with their house. There's nothing bad or wrong with the way they're living, it's solely our perception of what is good and what is bad that is wrong. I learned that material items do not matter nearly as much as how you lead your life and appreciate the people close to you.