A college student organizes a special event for peers
In these past two years of college, I’ve been part of a mental health awareness club. Last semester, we decided to organize a weeklong event focused on bringing awareness to both drug and alcohol abuse and suicide. I was excited and immediately started planning.
As the event drew near and with midterms coming up fast, I realized that I still had a lot to do and that I had to change: I was working too much on my own. So, I went to the other members of the club to ask them for help, and I was pleasantly surprised that they were happy to lend a hand.
In fact, one day we stayed after class for over three hours, which flew by! I felt as if I was building stronger relationships with them, loving Jesus in them, putting myself in their shoes.
The awareness week soon arrived. I started getting nervous because so many things still needed to be done. I decided to pray and ask God to help our event go well, if it was his will.
In the end, that entire week went flawlessly! The guest speakers arrived exactly when they were scheduled, even if they hadn’t answered our texts in the days before. We had an abundance of supplies that we weren’t expecting, and we had exactly the right number of club members needed.
What most surprised me was the number of students who came and showed interest in what we were doing. I was able to encounter each moment and person with a smile and to love each one as well as I could. The other club members also went out of their way to show kindness and openness to all attendees.
Looking back, I can really see that by loving the club members who were helping me, we built stronger relationships among us. I had used this time together as an opportunity to improve, to almost “sanctify” my immediate environment.
In the end, I was able to really be present and patient, and to put myself in the shoes of the people I met. In this way, I was hopefully able to contribute to sanctifying my global environment as well.
Chiara Lang, Texas
2020