What do i bring to the table?
“It takes nothing to join the crowd. It takes everything to stand alone”
I have always believed that no matter how good you may be at something, you will always need a team, a family perhaps to succeed in life. After becoming a part of SERVE I realized the importance of teamwork and unity and what we can achieve if we get together. But being a part of this wonderful community, I had the opportunity to comprehend one more thing, uniqueness of each and everything individual in SERVE. I finally understood why we cant achieve everything alone, its because of a simple fact that one cant be fully efficient in each and every task and thus it takes a team of people having varied skills to accomplish big tasks.
This essay reflects upon my talent and what do I bring to the table as a part of SERVE. I wont call myself the most knowledgeable or intellectual guy in the community and neither I will claim that I am the most hard working one, but there is one quality that I find an integral part of my soul and which separates me from the crowd. The art of making people smile. Yes, I do consider myself as a hilarious person but its not just about making people laugh and then leave the stage. I believe that community service is much more than just helping people by giving them what they want, it’s about understanding and empathizing with their pain and struggles. But before understanding the people around SERVE, I think it’s important to know the people in SERVE first. It’s been more than a month since we all met each other and I couldn’t love anyone more than I love my hall mates. I always try to help each and every member of SERVE, whether it’s homesickness or any kind of problem in life. The quality that differentiates me from everyone else is that I don’t think before helping someone, before hugging someone and saying that everything is going to be fine. I am a type of person who can never see anyone sad or in stress; I will help him/her irrespective of my relation to them.
Another positive attribute that I bring to the table is zeal, enthusiasm to do things. In SERVE we usually go to service trips at 6 or 7 in the morning, and I am the first one to get up and knock on everyone’s door to wake them up. I consider this passion and energy an integral part of this community as this the spirit of SERVE. The willingness and readiness of each and every individual to go out and help those who are in need of help.
According to the Clifton Strength test, my signature strengths are Includer, Positivity, Woo, Empathy and Ideation. And the most integral one out of those five is Empathy, and that’s what I always try to bring on the table. In the third week of SERVE we went to a field trip to Feeding America, Southwest where we meet its head of operations, Mr.James Andrews who has been a part of this organization. The most magical part of this trip was that before we started our assigned jobs, he gave us a very motivating and encouraging speech about his experiences and struggles in life. He also made us realize the importance of being honest to yourself and staying original.
I would also like to talk about the things that I want to bring to the table, which I haven’t yet. I think that we still hesitate to share Ideas and personal opinions in the SERVE classes. I want to make the class more open to discussions and ideas by initiating conversations first and sharing ideas that I feel will take us to a path we have never explored. Community Service is a class, which should never be attended as a class but as a platform to share personal thoughts.