Snapping back to reality

I've been gone from town for about a week now, and it's been pretty wonderful.

Last week I, along with 41 other Red Cross AmeriCorps members, went down to a small town in West Virginia and worked to repair homes for people afflicted by disasters (primarily flooding) and poverty.

In a very typical "service project/missions trip" kind of way, it was a great experience. We were able to do great things for the families we served, while we simultaneously learned more about ourselves and strengthened some friendships that've been around for a while.

This is the type of effect that I've encountered from my earliest days serving anywhere--through church, school or work groups. Each time a trip like this is made, however, the feelings that existed during the project aren't really expected to last very long after the project itself. That's just the way it goes, it seems.

I don't think I've ever given much thought to why this shift happens--why it can be so good (for weeks at a time) but then revert to blah, blah, blah so quickly. While laying in bed last night, something clicked for the first time.

During that service project week all those involved believed in a common good and strove for a single goal. Collaboration was the rule, not the exception. Selflessness, to a certain degree, occurred without much thought, and although petty squabbles did appear, they didn't stand in the way of every other positive aspect.

And all that ended yesterday morning around 8 am.

Even before I took the first step into my house last night I began thinking about all the things that are contrary to that service project mindset; all the ways in which we, the people I live with and around and I, don't share a common or single vision for our lives. We appear at odds so often because we simply don't buy into the same desires on a regular basis, and it's such a bad way to live.

During that week-long project, not only did we work full, strenuous days and get less sleep than we probably should have, but I also felt sick (due to a cold and some allergies) the entire time we were there, yet despite those potential drawbacks, I enjoyed every one of those days so much more than any single, perfectly healthy "normal" workday back here at home. The prevailing atmosphere and mindset were enough to sustain and maintain even when the rest of my feelings were sub-par.

So, now that I begin my normal routines again, I will be searching all the more for people who can, outside of the service project atmosphere, believe in and strive for that common good, so that we might together live a better life than we'd ever have independent of one another.