Final Service Project Reflection

As I have always said, I have thoroughly enjoyed my volunteering experience with Dubuque Regional Humane Society. What has been surprising about my experience is probably this; just how much I have enjoyed my volunteering experience. I won't lie, when I first heard about how much service we had to do this semester I was slightly horrified and not looking forward to it at all. However, now that I am nearing the end of my service hours, I continue to realize just how great of an experience I have had at DRHS. Side note: I am not meaning to sound over enthusiastic or cheesy, I am being very truthful. That could come off an ingenuine, but I am not trying to have it be.

What has been rewarding about my service has been the knowledge that I am giving the animals at the shelter a better life, just by giving them the love and attention each and every one of them deserve. One of the high point is when one of the dogs that had been at the shelter for the longest and the workers were afraid would never be adopted WAS adopted. His name was slug, and he was the sweetest dog. The most difficult part of my service was finding the time, as I am quite busy with track, work, homework, etc. I believe this was the case for everyone, but in the end, it is all working out with hours, etc. 

Although I have volunteered before, the longevity and consistency of this individual service project has shown me that volunteering long-term and at the same place is a lot more rewarding than volunteering every so often. You get to meet new people and become friends as you see them a lot more often, and you notice more just how much your help is appreciated and needed. I plan on continuing my volunteering at the Humane Society next semester as well. 

On Charity

One of my favorite Thomas Merton quotes I have found thus far in "No Man is an Island" is:

 “One who is content with what he has, and who accepts the fact that he inevitably misses very much in life, is far better off than one who has much more but who worries about all he may be missing . . . the relative perfection which we must attain to in this life if we are to live as sons of God is not the twenty-four-hour-a-day production of perfect acts of virtue, but a life from which practically all the obstacles to God's love have been removed or overcome. One of the chief obstacles to this perfection of selfless charity is the selfish anxiety to get the most out of everything, to be a brilliant success in our own eyes and in the eyes of other men."

From this quote, I gather that one of the main concepts behind charity for Thomas Merton is not the perfect charity-driven life, but rather a life in which one seeks to live in perfect love and communion with God. For Merton, it seems to be more personal, at least in his definition of "selfless" charity. Merton seems to speak about charity more in terms of love, which contrasts to Massaro who seems to refer to charity more from the viewpoint of Catholic social teaching. However, both seem to get at the same point with what charity is, although they define it a bit differently. My own definition of charity is giving back to others, not necessarily always others in need but also to one's friends, family, etc., and doing so out of love. I would define the relationship between charity and contemplation to be that contemplation is something one must do before or after performing an act of charity-in this way, one has the ability to learn and grow more from the experience. Not only are you physically helping, but through contemplation, you are helping yourself grow emotionally and spiritually. 

Final Service Reflection

*Note-I initially thought the blog prompt was asking about our individual project, so that's what I wrote it on. After commenting on someone else's blog I realized my mistake. Therefore, instead of deleting my reflections on my individual project I am simply going to add a paragraph below commenting on my group service project.

In our group project, we went to Stone Hill where we first were set up with elderly people in their rooms to visit and talk with them. Austin, Coleman and I met with an elderly woman who repeatedly told us to travel as much as we can and that the "good life" was to have a family. We then helped out with bingo night, and then helped out with crafts and played some cards afterwards. Overall, the reception was positive as multiple elderly people told me how happy they were to see some young people around, and the workers told us how grateful they were for us to join in. Although when we were playing euchre the game got a little intense (the elderly mean business on their card games) overall they all had a good time. My contribution to the project just helping out with visiting with the elderly, and during bingo I sat by a woman hard of hearing and let her know when her numbers were called. I also helped with cleaning up during the craft portion of the night and overall helped with planning on where we were going for the project.

It is without a doubt that I love my decision on where I am doing my service this semester. Animals are always something I have had a passion for, and so this service opportunity lined up exactly to something I looked forward to doing every time I showed up to do service. Although sometimes I do admit getting in the car to go do service seemed like a pain, once I showed up I would switch gears from being lazy and selfish to excited and grateful. I love the time I have had with the Humane Society thus far, enough to continue on into next semester.
Again, what I do at the humane society is to give dogs a playmate and to take them out on walks outside. If it weren't for people like me, then the dogs would stay in their kennels the whole day. Also, as I have volunteered for more than 10 hours I became a certified pet handler which means I am allowed to take the dogs out myself from their cages and can also help other volunteers or prospective animal buyers take the dog/cat out they so desire. The reception I have had with the animals and people who work at the shelter is definitely positive. The Humane Society is an underserved population, as they are CONSTANTLY in need of people to take the dogs out, as the people working there have other duties they need to handle such as feeding the dogs and cleaning their cages, working the front desk, handling all documentations, etc. The list is endless. The reception I get there is always positive as my service there is constantly needed.
My experience in this individual service project is different from the group one as it is just that, individual. The responsibility is up to me to ensure I get the hours done, and that I am handling myself well at the shelter. With the group project, the responsibility is shared. Honestly I liked the individual project better so far because 1. I get to work with animals and this is one of my passions and 2. it is my own responsibility; I don't need to rely on others to get the job done.
If anyone reading this gets the chance, go to the Humane Society. :)

Catholic School Reflection

To be quite honest, majority of my education on Catholicism took place during high school, which was also catholic. Every semester we were required to take classes on topics such as the history of the church, classes that broke down the different parts of the mass, etc. At Loras I have only taken one class, The Religious Imagination, where we did talk about the Catholic faith and identity but not to the extent I was taught in high school. Again, this just might be due to the volume and quantity of catholic classes I took in high school. However, Honors Service Learning has served to teach me new elements of the Catholic faith and created much discussion that has furthered my own Catholic faith and identity. I have found the discussions on values and what it means to live the good life to be awesome in terms of making me think what it means to live a good life, and a good life that is tied into Catholicism.
Besides the obvious differences between catholic and noncatholic college education experiences such as mandatory catholic identity classes, etc., I actually do not think there is too big of a difference between the two. Yes, there is an abundance of more opportunities to be involved in Catholic experiences such as Campus ministry, more religious groups, etc. but I dont think the different is too massive. Again, my whole life I have only been to Catholic schools (exempting one year) and so I do not know the other way. I try to keep away from arguments on religion, so I can't truly say I have ever had an in-depth argument on religion. However, if I were to, I feel like knowing more on Dorothy Day and the worker movement would have been beneficial.

Service Reflection

Thus far with my service experience working at the Humane Society, I can honestly say it is something I have come to love and look forward to. Whenever catching up with family or friends, when talking about what's new in our lives I always mention volunteering at the Humane Society as something new and exciting for me. With everything from one of the dogs, Slug (what a name right?) finally being adopted after spending months at the shelter to realizing just how much of an impact one can have with something as simply as walking and playing with dogs, this service opportunity has been nothing but amazing for me. Although there is some challenges, I know they are also a good learning opportunity. For example, as I mentioned in an earlier blog post, with about any volunteering experience, it's easy to get overwhelmed with the amount of help that is needed or work that needs to be done in a certain area, and the subsequent feeling that you wish you could do it all, but knowing you can't. For me specifically, when I first started volunteering, I had this feeling quite a bit, with knowing that I could only walk so many dogs and give them the much-needed outside time in my time at the shelter. I know that there are some dogs that may not even get to go outside every day, and this did (and still does) make me sad and feel a bit hopeless. However, I've realized you need to rather focus on the impact you are having on your service. For me, I am giving dogs the opportunity to play, and giving them the attention and love they deserve. What people don't realize is that if dogs are not let outside to play, they develop a serious mental condition in which they get too used to being in a kennel, and they lose the urge/desire to be outside, engage with people, etc. When this happens, the dog becomes unadoptable, and the shelter has to put the dog down. So it is indeed a much-needed need for the people to come engage with the dogs and let them be dogs, and play outside, etc. I have also realized just how much of an impact Humane Society can have-not only is it merely a place for homeless animals to stay, and give another chance at living with a happy family, but also a place where dogs and cats get needed vaccinations, spayed/neutered, among other things. It really is a safe haven for animals that have nowhere else to go, and without animal shelters like the Humane Society, the world would be a much scarier and desperate place for animals who are lost or do not have a home.

Voluntary Poverty

In reflection to Peter Maurin's quote on voluntary poverty, I believe that, yes, voluntary poverty is maybe ONE answer to the evil forces in the world today, but not THE answer. Not enough people would choose to put themselves in poverty, so this force field battling poverty is not the whole solution, but the part of a solution. In my opinion, I had a fairly surface-level understanding of voluntary poverty before our visit to the Catholic Worker Farm. I thought that maybe it meant, yes, one chooses to live in poverty, yet I did not understand how exactly one would do so. The visit gave me a greater understanding of voluntary poverty-the people living and working at the farm could have lived a life where they gathered and accumulated wealth over time, yet no-they chose to live closer to poverty. This is what voluntary poverty seems to be to me. Honestly, I believe majority of my understanding of voluntary poverty has come from this class, and the visit to the farm. I also believe this is a life that not all are called, just as the woman at the farm told us. As the couple at the farm seemed to project, it seems to be more of a calling to live that way. Not everyone has the vocation, patience, or desire to live that way. I also believe this extends to Christians-we all have our own way in which we can help; living in voluntary poverty is not for everyone. We all have our ways we can help serve our community and the world.

Pete: Exemplary Character

The person whom I wish to talk about is a man named Pete. Pete is one of the main guys at the Dubuque Regional Humane Society- every time I am there, so is he. He is a passionate guy who I can easily tell has a lot of passion- passion not only for the animals that he serves every day but for the customers who come in, the people he talks to on the phone, his coworkers, everyone. A story that helps demonstrate his passion and good character is when I was being trained as a Certified Pet Handler, which means I now have the ability to take the animals out of their cages by myself, and assist customers in this process as well. Pete is the guy who trained me, and during the session, he made sure to give me detailed instructions on how to handle the animals in a way that did not hurt them, and in a way that would not hurt the person I would give the animal to. He spent a lengthy amount of time describing different behaviors the animals might be showing, and to avoid the animals that are showing bad behavior as that could potentially put the animal in a bad situation, as well as myself. I could tell he took his job seriously and really cared for the safety of not only me, but the animals as well. I believe this shows good character as the job Pete has is one that someone could not take seriously and only do half the work, but in Pete's case, his compassion showed through.

I believe virtues that are necessary for someone serving in my particular project are love, charity, and courage. Love because not only are you demonstrating love for your neighbor by taking care of an animal that somebody had to give up due to a variety of reasons, but also love for ALL of God's creations, including animals, a category that a lot of the time gets thrown to the side in my opinion. Charity is an important virtue in my opinion for those who work for the Humane Society because they realize they are doing a job that is indeed part service, for the Humane Society cannot afford to pay high wages. As everyone who works at this animal shelter clearly loves the animals they work with, charity I can see present because the vets, etc. who work there could be getting paid higher wages elsewhere. Lastly, courage is important because I believe I need to be courageous in my work, for it's quite easy to succumb to feelings of sadness when leaving the animals and realizing that if an animal is kept in the cages long enough, they have to be put down.

Some habits that people might want to engage in to cultivate these virtues is gauging their emotions towards all of God's creatures, not just their fellow human beings. It is important for people to realize all of God's creation is just as important. Another way to cultivate charity is to, again, keep aware of one's emotions and by realizing there is a greater need. If someone has a lot in life, or even a little- they should give help to those who need it. Courage is a bit harder in my opinion, and to work on this, one needs to be proactive by attempting to do things that scare them, such as in my case, letting myself get attached to an animal that I know one day might be adopted.