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This is the second of a two-part post regarding my visit to a local food kitchen with a group of 8th graders this week.

• Finally, the only rather disturbing note of the day was the copious abundance of electronic devices that seemed to occupy many a recipient of the lunch program. I know it's not my business, but it did seem a little incongruous to see someone who couldn't afford to feed themselves or their child, yet, could afford the latest cell phone, Palm Treo and best of all - - a Bluetooth. A Bluetooth? I have been pining for a Bluetooth. I tell myself it's frivolous, and I don't really need one. And then I see... what? Three or four of them in line yesterday? I had to scrape my jaw back up from the floor.

Down, girl. Aside from that last, the experience was at once illuminating and instructive for our 8th graders. That goes without saying. However, as with many other volunteer gig's that I've done with my teens in the last couple of years, I found it to be a most humbling experience for myself, as well. Talk about perspective. As middle class adults, we worry about paying for things like the new roof, our next car and college for our children.

These folks worry about how to keep their babies warm at night (not to mention where they'll be safest), how to keep the electricity turned on, and yes, perhaps, how to keep that cell phone turned on. Perhaps, that's one way of maintaining some semblance of a past world. A world where things used to be better, and they didn't have to live day to day, wondering where they might get their next meal.

And yet, these same people had a smile for the volunteers who were serving them. I found myself joking with those who had to wait for the chicken to finish cooking that at times like this, they must feel like the Irish. "If it weren't for bad luck, we wouldn't have any luck at all!" That comment drew a good-natured chuckle every time. They may have merely been indulging me, but somehow, it seemed we were crossing a barrier that day. As is so often the case, when you serve others, you get more in return than you put forth to begin with. I find this to be true so much of the time. Yet, it continually amazes me. We can become so much of ourselves, but when we serve others, we become enlightened to the fact that it is in giving that we receive. In the end, it also seemed like God was reminding me that when it comes right down to it, we're all just people. Plain and simple.

Yes, I find myself humbled and indeed, incredibly blessed.

For some of the funnier moments, click here to visit my Tacky Princess post on this subject.