This past summer, I served as a medical intern at a special needs summer camp for campers of all ages. I believe that I worked harder in those 10 weeks than I had ever worked before. My day consisted of waking up around 5 and spending several hours of intense mental concentration, preparing medications for the special needs campers. Through my experience, I discovered the passion and drive to do absolutely the best that I could do for my campers. They were loving, funny, beautiful people and I knew that it was my responsibility to make sure that they stayed healthy. I've never realized the kind of passion and drive within me that could get me up after 4 or 5 hours of sleep and still be so motivated to work and serve others.
I am a nursing major and I am so excited to be so passionate about taking care of people for the rest of my life. This summer, if I ever felt like I was getting burnt out, I could just look at one of my campers and see them smile--they were so trusting of me and so happy to just live life that I couldn't help but to have an intense desire to do my job and keep them healthy and happy. That lesson was especially enforced when campers came in from bad home situations. Knowing that the care that they received from me and the other camp workers might be the best care the receive in their whole lives certainly made me want to do my best for them.
So, I guess my biggest lesson from the summer was that you have to think in terms of people, and how much they are worth your time. Even if they could care less about all the work you do for them, or if they will never understand the effort you put in for them, their lives are important, and their happiness is a worthy cause. Working for a paycheck will get old, but working to improve and sustain people's lives gives you something to be passionate about and helps you find the drive to do your best even when you're exhausted physically and mentally.
Please pray for people all over the world with disabilities, especially those living with people who do not take care of them properly. They deserve a healthy and happy life as much as anyone. Please pray that they will be taken care of, and that people will follow God's call to step up and serve this population.
A Worthy Cause
