“Not Until You’re Older”

May 27, 2009 at 2:53 pm (Uncategorized)

When I was little, as the youngest in my family, I had to wait a lot.  I would see what my older brother and sister were doing and want to watch what they were watching, or do what they were doing, and my parents always responded with “Not now, Vickie, not until you’re older.”  So I waited patiently, and sometimes not so patiently, for the days when I could walk to my friend’s house without someone holding my hand, hang out at the mall without my parents and have my own cell phone. 

There was one thing that I didn’t have to wait for, and that was serving others.  I can remember being asked to get everyone’s drink orders when we had guests, and doing so with a towel over my arm and a little notepad to keep track.  I think part of the reason that I loved it was because I got to have a special job, and people had to pay attention to me- very important to the little drama queen that I was back then. (and my siblings will probably tell you I still am)

I feel like junior high students hear this a lot- and it can be very frustrating to them. They feel like they are old enough for most things, and want to be respected because of that.  It’s not that I disagree that they should be waiting for a lot of things, because they aren’t quite ready to handle it all yet, but service is something that can be done at any age, and in a variety of capacities.  My days in Junior High (ten years ago now, wow!) fostered a realization about the importance of serving others, and that it didn’t matter how old I was- I could still help other people.

So even though it sometimes took me a little longer to get everyone’s drink orders, and it probably would have been easier to tell people to get drinks for themselves, I’m grateful that my parents started teaching me the importance of service at a young age, and continued to encourage me in that throughout my adolescence.

-Vickie Chambers, Summer Staff