GRATEFUL: THANKSGIVING BREAK IS COMING UP

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The semester continues to fly by as we rapidly approach Thanksgiving break. As the pace accelerates toward the end of the year, the community is in need of the respite that Thanksgiving offers, a time for family and reflection before the challenges of final exams.

This break make sure you make the most of your time and spend it with the friends and family you care about. It’s always important for us to keep our eyes open for ways to serve our community, but Thanksgiving offers us an important chance to reflect on the blessings we’ve been given and to understand the needs that we can assist other members of the community with. Often, as students of the University of Dayton, we take some things for granted. When we turn the knob on the faucet clean water comes out, when we’re hungry we can buy something to eat. All of our basic survival needs are part of our routine lives so we focus on other problems. We don’t think about the most basic necessities of living because they’re provided to us so conveniently.

Not everybody in the community has this luxury. For some of the underserved, including the homeless, their everyday lives aren’t spent worrying about the same issues that we worry about. They may not be worried about trivial things like what’s going to happen to a character on a sitcom, but instead they’re worried about where their next meal is going to come from and where they might sleep that night.

These are things we take for granted every day. We’re all blessed to have the opportunity to attend a university this nice and receive the education that we do.

Consider serving the community this Thanksgiving and participating in activities such as volunteering at a homeless shelter. Thanksgiving is a tough time for the homeless as the weather is gets colder. Shelters often serve a vital role in feeding and caring for the underserved. The important thing to remember is to approach your service not as a savior, but as a neighbor. We are all in the struggle toward progress together.

So this Thanksgiving be thankful for what you have, don’t take anything here for granted and spend some time with your family and friends.

That’s why the holiday was invented.