My family had only been living in my house for a few years before it burned. Nothing was really left either; only two by fours and slabs of concrete. My clothes and bed were turned into ash and the air was gray with smog. I was only in sixth grade when it happened, twelve years old. Coming home to my home ablaze was different then what you’d imagine.
At the time, my family was at the movies. Infinity War was already playing when my dad’s cell phone lit up the theater. I remember him holding the phone up so his ear as he left the room. It couldn’t have been more than two minutes later when he walked back up the steps to where we were sitting, and motioned for my mom to follow him. After another two minutes of wondering what they were doing, and what I was going to have to fill them in on, my mom alone did the same motion and told me and my two sisters to come with her. Standing in that empty hallway with red felt carpet under colorful shapes, is where my mother first said “house fire.” My worry of missing the movie, instantly switched to a worry of missing my home. Hastily, loading into a small uber, my sisters, mom, and I followed a few minutes behind my dad. The car ride was filled with tears and prayers, hoping to come home to something more than just soot. Coming around the neighborhood corner, you were able to see the smoke of a burning house filling the evening sky. News anchors, pedestrians, firemen, police, and friends lined the streets all gawking at the orange and red flames taking over my home.
The very next morning, I remember bags and bags of clothes, toiletries, gift cards, and any essentials, being delivered to my neighbors house where we had slept. The community I had lived in my whole life, came together to support a newly homeless family.
After experiencing that, I actively make an effort to try to be there for people the same way people were there for me. You could not know it, but the closest people to you could be struggling. You could not know it, but those few dollars you gave to the woman on the edge of your street may have fed them that day. You’ll never realize how big of an impact you make on others’ lives by putting in an effort, and trying to help them. So since that day, I have tried to live by giving more and taking less.