I have always found Alpha Psi Omega's motto rather inspiring but have never really given it much thought. Now, however, it means so much to me. After the devastation in Tuscaloosa, I have felt so weird. I'm constantly switching between different emotions and have been stuck with this feeling of being without a purpose. All of that changed today.
In February, I applied for a job through Americorps with the West Alabama branch of the Red Cross so that I could stay in Tuscaloosa for another year with my friends while putting off actually growing up. I thought it was only organizing blood drives and other volunteer work, but what I discovered in my interview last Tuesday was that they actually do all of the disaster relief for eight counties in Alabama. This already made me want the position because I knew how rewarding the work would be.
After living through the experience that next Wednesday and Thursday and seeing my grandmother's house in Phil Campbell today, this job became a personal matter. I need to help the town that has given me so much in the 14 years I have lived there. When I got the call that I got the job today in my grandmother's now destroyed home, I cried with tears of joy because Tuscaloosa is my home, and I cannot go off and do something else until it's better. Thus, I challenge everyone to seek a life useful. I know I will be.
