"Careful!" "Catch him!" "Don't let him fall!" Exclaimed a crowd at the 99 Cent store. A man got off of his wheelchair trying to get the little change he had from underneath his seat. When he got up, he lost balance and began to fall forward. The people standing around clung on to him, I could tell that they didn't want him to get hurt. At first, I thought the people that caught him were family members, but it turns out the old man was both alone and homeless. He regained his balance and politely told the group to let him go. He didn't have a lot of change with him, but there was no need for that now. A kind middle-aged women bought the reading glasses for him.

I was small back then, probably 9 years old. I began to think that the women had a kind heart ,and I hoped to be like her one day. My father interrupted my thought and told me that the old man did all that on purpose. "He did that so that people could buy him stuff and give it to him for free. He's a fraud. A lazy person that doesn't want to work. That is why he is in that situation, homeless." I could feel my emotions getting tangled together. Since that day, I always tried to stay away from homeless people. In my mind, I saw them as people that were lethargic, people that don't like to work and that they want everything to be spoon fed with everything. With my hand in a fist, I began to hate them.

I have volunteered with mu high school's service club, Interact in Phoenix, Arizona. I have had a mountain of memories and times that I will never forget. But now that I think about it, I have not yet volunteered at any events with the homeless. I have done many activities around school. I enjoyed helping parents get around campus at open house, helping put up the Veteran cards, and I loved when we picked up trash from the street. The only thing I've done to help the homeless is when volunteered for gardening. I got freaked out when I saw the gigantic spider rise from the dirt but other than that it was fun. With the sun warming my face and the cool breeze refreshing my body that day, it was relaxing. I enjoyed laughing and working side by side with my friends. We each put our hearts in doing things right and by the end of the day we all felt good about ourselves. I remember our teacher asking us, "wasn't that fun?!" With our smiles from ear to ear my friends responded "Yes, I had lots of fun" "Me too" "I can't wait to come back here!" The people in charge of this garden grow vegetables to feed homeless people.

I wonder what keeps me from helping out in events where I feed the poor? Interact provides many opportunities in that matter. I guess it's because I'm uneasy around them. Am I sacred of them? Well, that's over. Next time, I'll go and give food to the poor, to the homeless, to the less unfortunate. I'm anxious to accompany my friends to the shelter. I bet they'll hug me and tell me it going to be fun. It will be fun, as much fun a roller coaster ride. It will be challenging, but I can do it. After all, I still wish to become the women with the kind heart I saw long ago.