While the highlight of today’s event was the actual service we as a Rose House team performed, I want to mention the words of Vice President for Student and Campus Life Ryan Lombardi at the kickoff event for Into the Streets this morning. VP Lombardi shared an anecdote of his own time in college — a Halloween arts & crafts community service event for young, underprivileged children from the surrounding area. He stressed that this event was the turning point for his own views of community service and his career as a whole (he had originally gone to school to become a musician!), and he told us that while he didn’t expect us all to experience the same life-changing effects as he did, he hoped our opportunity to serve today would help us appreciate the community around us as well as our own privilege.

VP Lombardi’s words stuck with me throughout the day, reminding me to stay positive even when the work became challenging or monotonous. His anecdote also reminded me of my own experience interacting with homeless people at a shelter for which I was helping to organize a clothing drive. In either case, privilege is a dangerous blessing — today reminded me that it is incredibly important to keep in touch with my position in the world in order to ensure that I return positive contributions to it in return for the privilege I receive.