Spring Break's Here...

... and off they went! Seventy-five Calvin students left to various locations across the country on a mission-- a spring break trip to serve and learn (http://www.calvin.edu/news/2008-09/spring-break/). I am sure these students would gain valuable lessons, experience the local cultures of their service sites, develop closer relationships with those whom they would meet from the trips, and cultivate friendships that would last a lifetime. As I thought about the amazing things they would do and the questions I would ask them (because I figured they would return at least a little wiser), I thought about the many selfless men and women in uniform serving around the world (surely, if there are lessons to learn from reflecting upon one's week-long service trip, there must be even more lessons to unearth from multiple tours of duty that stretch for months). These brave troops placed their limbs and lives on the line so that we could keep ours. These brave troops stood up to defend freedom so that the rest of us could freely do whatever we wanted. Yet, our veterans are not treated with the kind of respect they deserve. Psychologists say that telling stories is therapeutic. I think storytelling has a two-fold benefit: We remember the hardship endured by the story tellers, and we learn about those parts of the world that we would probably never visit. We might surprise ourselves to realize that there are actually many valuable lessons to learn from those humble and forgotten veterans.