Balancing Act by Grace

Balancing Act by Grace - November 2018 Scholarship Essay

Being on the 2018-2019 school year yearbook staff, I had an advantage by being able to submit my senior quote a bit later than the rest of our student body. Ironically, once I stumbled across “The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway” from american writer Kent M. Keith, I stuck with it until my extended deadline. It was blunt, it was powerful, and it was a message I am hoping resonates with more people. To be completely honest, I didn’t know who Kent M. Keith was until I searched his name online later that night, but his words struck me in such a gravitational way that I knew it was the perfect phrase to represent me and my high school career.

Over the past four years, I have tried to dedicate myself to kindness. Whether its through community service societies such as the National Honors Society, National Art Honors Society, or Beta Club, volunteerism has always been a personal value of mine because struggle is everywhere, and it can be all consuming. My favorite experience with community service began as a high school sophomore when I began Chance Chokers, a nonprofit organization where I hand-made and sold choker necklaces. After self-designing the website and eCommerce storefront, the proceeds from Chance's sales were donated in full to the Addison Jo Blair foundation in my hometown of Louisville, KY, supporting the research, treatment, and care of children suffering with pediatric cancer in my community. This temporary organization changed my life because I was able to witness the profound way my community came together to support such an amazing cause and see how the power of kindness or “good” can truly make a difference in the lives of struggling families.

I was inspired to begin Chance Chokers because it simply has always been my goal to put as much good into this world as I could. Although I have not personally been affected by a loved one with pediatric cancer, I have seen first hand the overwhelming toll it can take on a family mentally and financially. My hope with Chance Chokers was to work to alleviate as much of that burden as I could, while bringing my community together in awareness to help those in need. However, I quickly discovered that once everything is said and done, your positive actions are quickly forgotten, and their impact may be temporary.

At first, this discovery upset me. Selfishly I thought, why am I spending so much time on something that people only care about for a day? But as my volunteer experience continued, I realized that the impact you can make in your community or someone else’s life in one day, even if it is forgotten, is so much more rewarding than being recognized for it long-term. This is where “The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway” evolved a bit into integrity for me. This can even be seen through random, mundane act of kindness- complimenting someone’s shoes, holding the door, sitting with someone who is eating alone at lunch- these little things can have an enormous effect on a person’s bad day. They may forget about it the next, and nobody may have seen you do it, but for that day, you made someone’s life a little bit brighter. That’s what kindness is all about.

Ultimately, Chance Chokers changed my perspective by showing me that with passion and determination, anyone can make positive differences in the lives around them. On the other hand, Kent M. Keith taught me that your character should not be defined by the recognition of others. The little things matter just as much as the big. “The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway” is the perfect balance of giving back and remaining humble, and I am so thankful that my high school journey has given me the opportunity to discover the importance of how to embody these words each and every day.