Reflection Archive

Why I Go: A Personal Vocational Discernment

– May 8, 2012Posted in: Featured Events, Post-Grad Volunteer Blogs

A personal reflection on why participate in Post-Graduate volunteering.
By Mellissa Hollabaugh

I am going because I am young and able, and I have no career to endanger. If not now, when?

After I get another degree? After I make some money?

I am going because I have learned to believe that everything starts at home, with me.

I am going because I want my actions to reflect my values.

I am going because if I want peace, I know I must work for justice.

I am going because if I don’t, who will?

I am going because I have innumerable questions that I want to live out.

I am going because a Spanish nun in Peru taught me to salir al encuentro para hacerme amigos
con el pobre. If I don’t know the poor by name, I have not done enough.

I am going in the name of all the poor who asked me never to forget their stories:
Silvana, Aurora, Johan, Miguel, Carmen, Walter, Juan & Esilia, Antonio & Mimi, Miguelina, Elfi, Alma, Sami, Genesis, Luchi, Orquidea, Junior, Estalin, Pedro & Kristina, Canene & Antigua, Pimpa, Boba, Carmen, Juana & Luis, Oscar, Antonio.

I am going because there are a million more stories that need to be told.

I am going because I have been blessed with an education to justice, a community of friends that
encourages me, a loving family that sustains me, and a desire to experience all the joys
and pains the world is willing to offer me.

I am going because I, too, have always wondered,
Why don’t more people stand up?

I am going for all the times I have remained embarrassingly quiet and cowardly in the face of
injustice, prejudice and ignorance.

I am going because I want to be different. I am going because Kyle Woolley once asked me:
How unusual do you want to be?

I am going because I want to test my values, and I want my actions to reflect those values.

I am going because of what Dorothy Day taught me:
The only solution to the long lonliness is love and that love comes with community.

I am going because I want to know what it’s like to have my heart broken, and then to have it
rebuilt through the presence of the divine in others.

I am going to live out my commitment to Jesuit values: to be a woman for and with others, to do and be more than what is expected, to be contemplative in action.

I am going so that I am challenged to change and grow into a better version of myself.

I am going so that I can share what I’ve witnessed with my community back home.

I am going for the many Creighton professors and mentors who have challenged and inspired me.

I am going because I want to make a preferential option for the poor.

I am going because I believe in this quote: Life begins outside your comfort zone.

I am going because I want to practice giving and receiving intangible gifts.

I am going so I can learn to practice wonder and awe for creation.

I am going because I believe in Dr. Martin Luther King’s message,
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

I am going because I want to learn to live in simplicity and solidarity.

I am going because I would rather be an instrument of peace than an apathetic graduate.

I am going because I want to learn the difference between wants and needs.

I am going in the influential footsteps of all the JPS grads that have gone before me.

I am going because it is the best reflection of Creighton running through me.

I am going so I can learn to live the Easter holiday.

I am going so I can learn to experience the life that occurs beyond a planner. For as I’ve been told,
Life is what happens when you’re busy making plans.

I am going so I can paint a new picture of what an “American” can be to Latin America.

I am going for all those who cannot go, and better yet, for those who willingly choose not to.

I am going because I have to believe there is so much more to life than just this.

I am going because I have absolutely nothing to lose and everything to gain.

I am going because I know there is a different kind of real world out there, and I want to meet it.

I am going now because life is short, and all we have is today.

Tags: Post-Grad Volunteering, Reflection

Always Keep Rocking

– May 1, 2012Posted in: Featured Events

Inspired by slam poet Anis Mojgani’s direct order to rock out and presented at the CCSJ’s end of the year celebration. The people of Creighton’s Center for Service and Justice have committed themselves to a year of rocking out…

Rock out like your teacher tells you to write your name on the final exam and you put “wicked” as your first name and “awesome” as your last.

Rock out like the service trip t-shirts next year were polyester and doubled as a bowling league shirt.
Like five people rocking out on only one guitar.
Like you used the log book to reserve a dance party.

Rock out like next year’s staff turned off the computers at night, washed the dishes, and never missed a timesheet.

Rock out like new faces meant remembering the old, like new friends meant appreciating those gone.

Rock out like Omaha was our home away from home, and Harper 2067 was our living room. Like we shared, we loved, and we grew like a family.

Rock out like this life is so good we are willing to exhaust ourselves daily, wake up and do it again.

Rock out like the room is full of people who don’t want to be anywhere else.

Rock out like the children believing in fairy tales also believed that other worlds could be created from dirt, sticks, rocks, and worms.
Like another world is possible, not only did we help create it, but we also got to see it.

Rock out like it’s our duty to dream.

Rock out like generosity was our currency and we were all rich.
Rock out like schools had money and the Military had to hold bake sales.
Like education was universal and everyone could read this beat.

Rock out like a smile erased segregation. Like a hug healed the deepest wound.
Rock out like every day you looked forward to work because your coworkers, your bosses understand. Like your peers are the most concrete models of a bright future.

Rock out like you changed your email to rockout@creighton.edu.

Rock out like every baby in Nebraska is now protected.

Rock out like this was a wicked awesome semester, only to be celebrated, not forgotten.

And in Anis’ words: Rock out like this was your last weekend, like these were your last words, like you don’t ever want to forget how.

Tags: Reflection, Solidarity

Shed the Noise: An Interview Project

– April 25, 2012Posted in: Formerly Featured Events

 Define your own road in life!

Thursday , April 26th
7:30 pm – 8:30 pm
Creighton Rigge Science 120

Ever wondered where you’re headed in life?
How your passions can combine with your major to land you in the career of your dreams?
Well join us April 26th for a viewing of our documentary “Shed the Noise: An Interview Project.”

… This semester, 15 Creighton students interviewed people who have jobs they find interesting. In pooling the interviews, we made a documentary of the inspiring words of those people that have found their own road. Come watch to hear from leaders in the community who have resisted the noise of conformity and stayed true to themselves in finding their life’s work.

Learn how to make a life and not just a living! Check out the RoadTrip Nation website, join us for our viewing, or be part of the movement with our new group beginning in the Fall. http://roadtripnation.com/

Come join them, because they’re pretty sure you’re going to think it’s worth your time. (Plus, there are prizes.) Questions: Contact AllisonCorrigan@creighton.edu or klinden@creighton.edu.

Tags: Community, Post-Grad Volunteering, Reflection, Video

Reflecting on Citizenship

– April 24, 2012Posted in: Blogs, Featured Events, Formerly Featured Events, Weekly Service Blog

Written by: Maureen Boyce (freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences)

Volunteering at the Juan Diego Center this semester has changed my views on the immigration process. It gave me the unique opportunity to see this process from the perspective of an immigrant going through the arduous journey of gaining citizenship. It’s inspiring to see the people work so hard to overcome their language barriers, which is often the hardest part of the whole process. Because they must answer questions in English, it forces them to learn a specific vocabulary not used in everyday language. But they still come to the center even when they are tired after a long day at work. Many have the additional burden of having to overcome health issues in order to practice for their test. They persevere because they believe that it is important.

In some ways the test provides an interesting peek into what the government believes is important for immigrants to learn before they become citizens. Sometimes the questions are a bit strange but most are about the unique rights and privileges that one has as an American citizen. One of the participants, a man from Cuba, told a volunteer that the difference between his country and America is that in Cuba things (such as healthcare) are free, yet they, the people, are not free. But in America, though things are not free, we are free. His statement reminds me how fortunate we are to live in America, where our rights are protected by our Constitution.

It’s easy to forget the enormity of an immigrants’ decision to become an American citizen. Looking at the application and the questions they are asked reminds me about the sacrifice they are making to become a citizen. It’s a moving experience to ask an immigrant if they are willing to give up loyalty to all other countries in favor of America. But they are ready to take the oath of allegiance to the United States because they truly believe that their lives will be better as American citizens. Volunteering at the Juan Diego Center is a great experience and I recommend it to anyone looking to serve the community.

The CCSJ blogs are meant to be a place for Creighton students, faculty, staff, alumni/ae, and friends to reflect on their experiences with programs sponsored by the office or related to its mission. The views expressed in these reflections, and all other blogs found on or linked to from this website, are those of the individual authors and are not necessarily those of Creighton University, the Creighton Center for Service and Justice (CCSJ), or any of the University’s affiliates. The University and the CCSJ are not responsible for the actions, content, accuracy, or opinions expressed in these blogs.

Tags: Migration, Reflection, Weekly Service Sites

Holocaust Remembrance Event

– April 18, 2012Posted in: Formerly Featured Events

SS St. Louis Holocaust Event

Thursday, April 19, 2012
7:30 pm – 9:00 pm
Harper Center Auditorium

SS St. Louis Holocaust Event sponsored by the Klutznick Chair and Kripke Center. The event will feature a theatrical presentation of the trial of FDR performed by CU students, a panel of four SS St Louis surviving passengers and Holocaust survivors along with an exhibit from the SS St. Louis including a framed original of Senate Resolution 111.

Contact Pam Yenko (pyenko@creighton.edu) with questions.