Oneday I got a call from a friend asking if I wanted to go toDarien Lake with her. I wanted to jump right up and say yes,but I checked my schedule and discovered I was supposed to gothe soup kitchen with my youth group. I had to choose, and asmuch as I wanted to go to Darien Lake, I knew which was theright thing to do. After that call, I felt guilty in a selfishway. I knew I should have felt good about my decision, but Ididn't. All I wanted was to go to Darien Lake. For the rest ofthat day it was all I could think about.

The dayarrived when I was supposed to go to the soup kitchen. When Iarrived and saw those people, it made me want to leave evenmore, because it was difficult to accept all that suffering.At that point I was about to scream, I was so mad at myself.Then an older man came up to me and told me how generous I wasto give my time. He told me not many people volunteered at aplace like theirs. After that positive note, I stopped beingselfish, and started taking pride in my actions.

Thatday I learned a valuable lesson: no matter what you have toput aside, it is always worth helping people.