Journal Entry #1

Throughout our lives we each have many life changing experiences. One experience I had that helped shape me into who I am today was a summer I spent at Camp Simcha.
Camp Simcha is an extraordinary camp in the Upstate New York. The camp is comprised of two sessions each summer, one for children with cancer and one for children with various illnesses. The camp has approximately a hundred campers each session; each camper comes to camp for free. The camp is truly an extraordinary place that gives these sick children an opportunity to “escape” their sicknesses for two weeks each summer. It creates lifetime bonds between campers and counselors, creating friendships that last forever.
My experiences in camp helped me appreciate how special each person is. There is a story I heard of a water carrier who would carry two buckets of water to the top of the hill every day. One of the two buckets had a whole in it. Every day the bucket with the hole would be empty by the time the water carrier reached the top of the hill. The bucket would wonder daily, “why does the water carrier bother filling me up?” Then the bucket turned around and saw a beautiful row of flowers the whole way up the hill.
We may not understand why there are sicknesses in the world but we do understand that everything in the world has a purpose. If we take a step back and look at the world, we may see a beautiful row of flowers left behind.