Best Day Ever!

Today was by far the best day of the trip yet! While we did not see as much in the way of museums as on other days, the "personal" tour of Selma combined with the individual experiences that we heard about were truly life-changing. It is easy to acknowledge what happened during the Civil Rights movement without actually thinking about how it was affecting real people. However, once you hear from someone how they were clubbed by a police officer and how the tear gas stung their eyes, once you hear them sing the songs they sung when they were marching to fight for rights, once you hear them speak of the fear they felt when they thought their baby sister had died, then you truly can understand how the fight for civil rights affected real people. The service projects that we did today made me feel as though I was doing my part in the continued struggle. Particularly when painting the church, I could see how much it meant to the people of that congregation that we would take time out of our jam-packed trip to help them out, and then to stay an extra three hours to boot! Today was by far the best day of the trip because it was the most emotionally jarring, and I am so extremely happy that I was able to take part in this phenomenal experience. Not to mention, lunch today was THE MOST AMAZING MEAL OF MY LIFE! There's nothing like good, old-fashioned Southern cooking!