YMSL Blog Post
Lin Wilder, Communications
Mollie Ressler, Vice President of YMSL Fort Collins chapter, opened the first
mom’s meeting on September 12th by writing five quotes on the whiteboard and
leading a brief discussion of how each quote relates to our membership in the
Young Men’s Service League. I am a
self-proclaimed “quote junkie” so I wrote each quote down and thought a lot
about them. The following is what I took away from reading and discussing each
of these quotes, with examples from my YMSL experiences so far with my sons Sam
and Flynn.
1)
All experiences are opportunities for growth.
YMSL provides us with myriad opportunities to stretch
ourselves outside of our comfort zones, learn and grow as individuals, and strengthen
our mother-son bonds. Sam, Flynn and I may
never be quite sure what we are getting ourselves into when we show up at a new
organization to fill a new role, but taking risks together has not only
increased our confidence in ourselves, but also in each other.
2)
Each of us is greater and wiser than we think we
are.
The older I get, the more I realize the truth of this quote,
but young boys may not readily see themselves as wise or great. When Sam, Flynn and I volunteered with
Respite Care summer camp, I watched as they were each introduced to the camper
that they were to be a “buddy” with for the rest of the day. At first their faces were uncertain and they
didn’t seem to know what to say or do. But they were wiser than they thought
they were – before long they had found something in common with their camper
and were talking and laughing like they had been friends forever.
3)
Each person we meet is our student and our teacher.
Not only is each person we meet our student and our teacher,
but we also are all both givers and receivers.
Service to others returns more back to us in life lessons and a sense of
satisfaction than we ever give. When my
sons and I arrived at the Food Bank for the first time to sort food, we felt
rather overwhelmed with the mountain of unsorted food before us. By the end of our shift, the mountain was
reduced to a mere hill, and our physical tiredness was overshadowed by a huge
feeling of accomplishment.
4)
Anyone’s journey is as unique and valuable as
any other’s journey.
This may be one of the greatest lessons that can come from
service to others – we meet people we might never have crossed paths with or
paid attention to, and while they may be very different from us, we inevitably end
up paying more attention to the ways in which we are alike. Whether Sam, Flynn and I are swimming with
children who have disabilities or shoveling landscaping rocks alongside YMSL
boys from other high schools, questions are eventually asked and stories are told,
and in this way our worlds become wider and more connected.
5)
Energy attracts energy.
Whether positive or negative, the energy that each of us
puts into the world connects with others and attracts more energy. When my boys and I volunteered at the Colorado
Youth Outdoors summer camp, we were initially not sure there was much for us to
do. For a while we hung back, not
wanting to do the wrong thing or get in the way. Finally, we began to see small needs that we
could fill, and we decided to just dive in.
The boys joined in with the campers and began to enjoy the activities
with them, helping or guiding in small ways, but mostly just offering
encouragement and positivity. I started
helping wide-eyed children remove fish from hooks, and ended up jumping up and
down with the kids when they pulled in another wriggling fish. As soon as my boys and I put our positive
energy into the task, the campers responded by coming closer and asking for
help or making conversation. If we had
held back, I suspect that the campers would have held back too.
Many thanks to Mollie for sharing these quotes with us, as
each of them deepens the learning and growth that come from our experiences in
YMSL.
No comments:
Post a Comment