WHAT IT MEANS TO RENDER SERVICE FOR HUMANITY

I believe in service. Service to humanity is a single human’s purpose. Compassion for life is humanity’s purpose. Alone, humans are ants. Humankind lives in an ineffable universe in which astronomical forces are at work that only God can explain. Humanity is there to teach us, there to bring friendship to us, and there for us to serve. Serving humanity means giving actively; we must heal our grassroots communities before we heal our country and we must create organizations by which to serve. We all have special needs that have been served well by mankind before us. Therefore we must endeavor to serve others and provide a path to inclusion for all; as each ant makes up a colony, as each stone creates a path, as each friend provides friendship.
I believe in selflessness. In Circle of Friends—an organization that pairs general education students with special needs students (with autism, Down’s Syndrome, or cerebral palsy) for weekly lunches—I serve. Although, I now realize this experience has also served me. I have learned through countless lunches with my friend, Nathan, that everyone has a story to tell, and that through an individual’s ideas, one can truly understand them—befriend them. Nathan has told me tales of superheros—from Spiderman to the Incredible Hulk. In listening to these stories I have realized that despite our individual challenges, we are all heroes, we are all strong, incredible beings who live in a web of humanity, and we must serve it.

I believe in friendship. One lunch I stepped on an ant, as it climbed along the path, over the napkin, and towards the sandwich. I thought no one noticed. Then Nathan paused—he was telling a story about Spiderman—he asked me why I did it. I did not have an answer. He proceeded to tell me the importance of every living creature, the fact everything has a purpose, the idea that every ant has a job it is doing to serve the colony, and collecting food was that ant’s job. I have not stepped on an ant since then.

I believe in purpose. Every creature has a purpose whether it is flying around New York saving people from burning buildings, collecting pieces of sandwich for the colony, or just enjoying friendship. Every thing has a purpose, every moment has a purpose, every friendship has a purpose. Every life’s purpose results in two things: learning or teaching—exactly what happens in high school.
I believe empowering humanity is the key to our future. A single human is not eternal, but the imprint they leave on humanity is. As a society we must work together to help each other succeed in life, as the success of individuals collectively benefits humankind, and that is what we are as humanity—a collection of successful ideas. Humanity is a web, spun from a story. Humanity is a colony, built on a path. Humanity is a collection of friendships, created by a lunch period.