Carpool Week

Sacrifices are meant to be difficult, but for me, this sacrifice was the hardest of all the spiritual growth projects I have completed this year. Having my license and own car, it is so easy to get in the car whenever I want and drive anywhere I want without discussing it with my parents. I can leave when I want to, and the only person that would make me late somewhere would be myself. I attempted this project when the entire class did it, but I failed within the first day and then gave up. When I re-tried it a couple weeks ago, I failed a few times but worked really hard to make it work. 

I live in Wadsworth and go to school in Akron. Both of my parents work in Akron, but we all drive separate cars. The week of this project, my brother and I rode with my dad to school every day. In addition, I would ride home with my parents after my games or my dad would leave work whenever I was done with practice. There was sacrifices made by both of us, but we made it work. I never realized how dependent I was on having my own car, and how little I'd be able to do without it. After doing this, I also realized how much more I got to talk with my dad. Pythagoras said that, "Friends are as companions on a journey, who ought to aid each other to persevere in the road to a happier life." Me and my dad got to communicate more and build our relationship during the one hour each day of being in the car together. This project definitely led us to an improvement in our relationship for a whole week. Now every once in a while we still carpool to school and work. 

H2O Project

      Benjamin Franklin once said, “When the well is dry, we know the worth of water.” After drinking only tap water for one week, I have realized not necessarily what it is like to have a dry well, but what it is like to realize the worth of a variety of beverages. Although it does not seem like much of a big deal, this week was a big sacrifice for me. I am a huge water bottle drinker, and this week only allowed us to drink tap water. Because of my habits of packing plastic water bottles for lunch and practice every day, I found myself slipping up a few times. There were a couple times at school when I had to pour out my water just to fill up my water bottle with water from the drinking fountain. 

      I thought this week would be easy, but I never realized how convenient it was to have so many options for things to drink. After making this sacrifice for a whole week, I realized how lucky I am. Many people do not even have clean water to drink, and I lack appreciation for the thing that keeps me alive each day.