This I Believe Case

Kyndell Shaffer

Milad

AP Lang 6

31 August 2014

There is No Difference

        “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal…” These eminent words were declared by the third president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson. As I was searching through my textbook for United States history, a picture of Jefferson reminded me of his famous quote, and how important the concept of equality is for all people. Jeffersons’ words inspired many Americans, but the truth of this quote still rings true to me today with my belief in equality for all.

        In my childhood I was taught the manners most every southern child at some point was probably taught. Those manners included saying, “Yes M’am” and “No M’am,” cleaning up after yourself, and respecting everyone, even when you do not believe they deserve it. My parents had taught me that I was no better than any one else. I was raised to believe all in equality.

        I had never fully understood how deep my belief in equality went until my life-changing Summer of 2011. In a crowded, fetid bus, I traveled to Purdy, Missouri with a questionable attitude as I took in the reeking smell of exasperated teenagers. My only knowledge was that I was going to assist at a summer camp for disabled children, called Camp Barnabas. My job was to work in the kitchen, and I knew that it would be a brutal, draining week in my life. I did not know what to expect. I dreaded housework in the comfort of my own home anyways, so the idea of doing it for someone else disgusted me. I would be serving food, washing dishes, and assisting campers with personal tasks. I did not know that in the next eight days my life and my ideas of people would be drastically impacted forevermore.

        The work was very hard, and the days were long, but as I got to know some of the kindest people I would ever meet in my life, my mind was racing. The campers each had a physical disability, but were able to interact and do normal activities like any other child. Most could not walk on their own, and some were deaf or blind, but their joy was as visible as a fly in a milk carton. I talked and played with them when I was not doing my work in the kitchen, and seeing their joy made my attitude change about doing the gruesome work. On one of the last days of camp, Macy, a girl with Cerebral Palsy, said “I just wish people would see me in the ‘real world’ like they do at camp. I am the same as every other person, I just can’t walk.” Just hearing those words really expanded my ideas on equality.