Socks essay on About Teens magazine

I think back to the time when I was young when things came easy. You wanted something nice, you waited till your birthday or Christmas, you took things for granted. Your parents lived to look after you and provide you with a roof over your head, clothes and food. Never once during my childhood did the idea of not having a home enter my head, the idea itself was crazy. Then I entered the seventh grade and my perception of this changed drastically. I learned the realities of the world we live in, the fact that millions in this world don't have a house, a place to stay, the fact that millions go to bed hungry, or millions don’t have a job that can support them and their family.

Then the idea came to me and a small group of my friends. We decided to spend a Saturday morning giving out peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to the homeless in our community. We pitched the idea to our sixth period class and got an outstanding response. The class brought in supplies, and over the next week we planned our project and that Friday we met up to make the sandwiches. Nine students walked to our classmates’ house loaded down with bags and bags of bread, peanut butter, jelly and juice boxes. We arrived at approximately 3:10 and by 3:15 we had a whole assembly line working. We had people spreading, bagging, and people putting a sandwich and a juice box in paper bags. Since it was close to the holidays we also added a small note saying, “Happy Holidays”. Soon the house was covered in paper bags and the students were covered in jelly. At about six o'clock we finished and as parents arrived to pick us up they were amazed with the work we had done in such a short time.

That brings us to the next morning, early the next morning. Getting middle schoolers out of bed before twelve can be challenging, getting middle schoolers up at seven to do something that will benefit others is extraordinary, but we achieved this. As we arrived at the local train station at about eight we distributed the sandwiches to the students there to help. We had canvas bags filled, backpacks filled and countless plastic bags, and as we got on the train I'm sure it was a sight to see.

We had gone over how we would perform this task countless times in class, and it went something like this. Walk up to the homeless person, politely ask them if they would care for a sandwich, if yes, hand them one and walk away, if no simply say thank you and walk away, and that's exactly how it went.
After gathering up outside the train station in San Francisco we split into three groups and went off. I can so clearly remember the first person we ran into, hunched over a garbage can in a long black overcoat. I turned to my friend and we decided to ask if he cared for a sandwich. As we approached him I remember feeling anxious. Who knew what would happen when he turned around? How would he react? Even so we went up to him and asked if he would like a sandwich. He turned and smile, a smile that made my day, reached out for the paper bag, turned to us and simply said, "Thank you and God Bless". It was simple but it meant something. It meant so much, for someone who had so little he seemed genuinely grateful. And for me, someone who had so much, it meant the world to me, that I had personally made one guy smile. He now had something to eat for that day, and that feeling was inexplicable.

That day came with many stories, many I will never forget, but honestly one really stood out. We walked up to this guy with a shopping cart and handed him a sandwich. He turned, thanked us, and then asked one, simple question, "Do you have any socks?"
Socks! Have you ever thought about not having socks? Have you ever not had socks? I doubt it. But this old man in San Francisco, who to us was "the homeless guy" all he wanted was a pair of socks. As a stood in front of this man, the man that even to this day has truly impacted my life, I was so close to bending down and whipping off my socks, but thought better of it after I realized my feet were ten times smaller than his but I couldn’t help but think, socks, why socks? I thought back to all the expensive gifts I had asked my parents for in the last thirteen years, and all this man wanted was socks. I think of my bedroom, a bed, ipod speakers, books everywhere, a closet full of clothes, and all he wanted was socks.

This experience changed so much for me. It taught me that the majority of people who are fortunate enough to have money and houses and food and clothes don't take a second look at the people who don't. Take a minute, an hour, out of your day, talk to the people less fortunate than you, look at the world around you and realize how lucky you are. Be thankful for that pair of socks.