Today was a good day

With college break in full force, I have started to reflect on what actually happened my first semester of college. I pledged a fraternity, i maintained a job and i held a GPA above a 3.0. Needless to say i am very proud of myself but this entry isnt about beating my own drum. This entry is about the way i learned to be thankful for what I have. This semester I survived on $350 for four months as opposed to $2500 I was supposed to live on. I have never felt so poor ever. Of course i had a meal plan, but most students know that it is very difficult to live on food that the school makes (not good food and im not exagerating... i eat anything). On top of being poor, i put up witht he horrors of pledging. With out going into too much detail, it was just the icing on the cake to make me feel like crap. I still wonder today how i made it through last semester but eventually i did make it through pledging and then i even made it through finals with B-plus grades. My mom came to pick me up later after my last final and she saw a zombie for a son. As worn out as i was i had to show her my most rememberable (or not so rememberable, if you know what i mean) spots on campus including my new fraternity house i inherited. Eventually i got home and it finally hit me... I accomplished all my goals and i am no longer poor. I have a  house and a refridgerator with food in it. Everytime this Christmas break, when i ate food or opened up a Christmas present i thought about how hard my parents worked for the item. This was the first Christmas i cried after opening up presents (and this is coming from a big bad frat boy). Im not saying that everyone needs to go through what i did, but with how bad things are  getting in the United States today and how a lot of people are still ignorant about how much they actually have, i reccomend somehow going into some kind of poverty or better yet, go help out at a soup kitchen, not for one night, but consistantly, every day for a month. Get a feel for what it really is like to be poor and then appreciate what you have. In a strange sense i feel like i earned life and i have nothing to lose. Success is my only object.

-phi phi kappa alpha