A Time of Thanksgiving

Neyland Stadium can get pretty loud. It's a known fact to everyone everywhere that knows anything about college football. When 90 to 100,000+ people are packed into one stadium, covered in orange and white, it is quite a spectacular sight for anyone to see.

The Georgia Dome in Atlanta does not quite have the same atmosphere. Still, when most of the 55,000 person crowd dons orange and amps up the noise level in an echo-friendly dome, the experience is overall enjoyable.

While there is a certain feeling of school pride when Tennessee chants flood the stadium and seas of orange flow in all directions, the experience was enjoyable far beyond the football (Dare I say? Yes, yes I do.). The day (and weekend, for that matter) that was punctuated by football was highlighted more by service, by chemotherapy waste bags, by books filled with words that are unknown to most of the population, by thanksgiving.

Chemo waster bags are heavy! I mean, taking out each bag by four or five at a time eventually add up when you realize that you've filled up one box of 100 and there's still just as many, if not more, in the original box. Or all the Pediatric Journals that someone apparently didn't want, using all sorts of medical jargon that, at least to the Journalism major, might as well be in Greek or Russian or Hungarian. Boxes and boxes of medical supplies piled against a wall, set for sorting into boxes, eventually to be shipped out to countries around the world from one small warehouse in suburban Georgia. One truck with supplies for El Salvador even left the day our group ended up working there.

It's humbling.
It's fun.

Yes, when it's all said and done, sorting through boxes of medical supplies that we'll never see again because it'll be in a foreign country is fun. Doing something beyond yourself is fun. Waking up at 7 in the morning to go on a three or four hour bus ride only to come back at 4 that next morning is fun. Serving is fun.

The whole thing is humbling.

After the past few weeks, this trip and this weekend was almost like a wake-up call. I've been reminded of all of the blessings that I've been given and realized the lies that I was believing prior to Friday. Just took a few diapers and books and waste bags to come to the realization.