JAJHS ran a Veterans Day essay contest, asking students to respond to the quesiton “What does ‘serving together’ mean to you?” A panel of judges selected two winners. This is Ella Dyer’s winning essay.

Serving together is a form of connection. It’s a form of volunteering for the greater good. When people serve together, they join together to help one another and other people. For things to work, people need to be able to serve together and work with each other. People should work together and serve, if not for the happiness they receive, but for the knowledge that they are helping others and forming a connection while working together.

Serving isn’t all just about giving and receiving. It’s about sacrificing time and effort to help others. Serving with others brings people together. People put themselves on the line daily for others’ safety and well-being. We have some of these people here with us today. There are individuals who will rush into burning buildings to rescue one life while risking their own. Some protect our rights and country by leaving their families temporarily and all of their lives to go and protect our country’s freedom. Then there are others that protect each and every community so we can be safe and comfortable in our homes and out on the streets. Others will spend long hours helping the sick and injured to get well so they can go back to their lives. By putting themselves second, they risk their lives and all they have. 

This world is getting more and more lost because people are forgetting what it’s like to be serving together. Everyone wants to go first and no one wants to put themselves second. However, there are some people who are willing to put themselves second and not get fame. Some people are eager to help others, and not just to get something out of it, but to help one another. When people serve together, they form a bond with one another. They feel a connection through the work they’re doing and they want to pursue that relationship. While people serve, they give to the organization that is helping others. They contribute to the economy and the people around them. It allows them to help serve others when others need encouragement and help in times of need. 

Some people don’t understand why others step up and serve together so quickly. Some think it’s a waste of time or too hard to work with others. They don’t have much experience with others helping them, or they haven’t helped many people. If they were to help people they would feel the joy of helping others. The happiness they receive from helping people and working with others is good enough for them. If people were able to experience the joy of volunteering more, they would be extra eager to help others in their time of need, serving together to accomplish more. 

I hope that more people will be inspired by our veterans to go and serve together. They are wonderful people who risk their lives and leave all they have so that they can protect us. They will form a connection, help others, and feel good about themselves all just by doing one simple thing. If we were to all work together to serve, this world would gradually become a better place.