Chapter Seventeen - Compassion in Action

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Compassion in Action

“IT KIND OF took religion out of it. It was just compassion in action.”

Not everyone gets a religion class in high school.
If you went to public school, you might hear that and think, “Wait, what? You took religion?”
Yeah. We did. It wasn’t that deep.

A lot of the time, religion class just felt like another history class with a different label. You’d talk about scripture, sure, but also church history, early Christianity, moral philosophy, social justice, and yes, sometimes you’d take a quiz on bible gospels. It was more about ideas than beliefs. Different ways to talk about God. Different ways people thought about meaning.

It wasn’t heavy or preachy.
It was just part of the schedule.

But there was one thing that made it feel real.
One thing that mattered.
It was called Work Camp.

Here’s how it worked: if you met certain requirements, stuff like volunteer hours, good standing, and decent grades, you could skip a semester of religion class by doing this one-week summer program. And what you did during that week? Volunteer. A lot.

And let me tell you… that week?
It was awesome.

We weren’t sitting in pews or classrooms.
We were doing. We were out in the community, helping real people, doing real work.

We painted a man’s house.
We cleaned up a food pantry.
We laid groundwork for a community garden.
We repainted one of those big shelters in a local park.
We worked hard, got sweaty, laughed a lot, and came home tired but feeling like we did something.

There was this one pantry we helped out at, run by this incredible guy. I’d go on to work more with him later at the Dayton Foodbank, and we ended up becoming good friends. Great guy. Big heart. Total community warrior.

But none of that week felt like school.
And none of it really felt like religion either.

It felt like compassion in action.

Not a lecture. Not a workbook.
Just people helping people.

And I think that’s the real heart of religion class, or at least what it should be. Not just memorizing verses or taking tests on ethics, but actually living out the values. Helping where help is needed. Showing up. Making things a little better.

Work Camp didn’t just teach me something.
It reminded me that the best lessons don’t come with handouts.
They come with hammers, paintbrushes, and dirt on your shoes.