It's been an incredibly humbling few days for me recently with not only the rememberance service in Guildhall but also an ex-graduates memorial service today at the Students' Union.
To stare into the eyes of a silent soldier in the pouring rain at the Guildhall in Portsmouth has got to have been one of the most sobering moments of recent times in my life. I'll freely admit i had very little respect of rememberance sunday other than doing the minutes silence, mainly i think due to my own personal ignorance but Sunday really highlighted to me the strength and passion of these soldiers who put their lives on the line for our country.
I never actually spoke to any of the veterans but you could tell these hero's had seen and been involved with more than you could ever imagine. As the rain poured down on the many hundreds (if not thousands) of people stood in Guildhall in honour of both the fallen and survivors of our military services i couldn't help think to myself how cold it was but that there was no way i could complain about it knowing just what these people had been through to keep our country safe.
Sunday was a truely emotional day but really started me thinking about life, and then Heather Small's song "Proud" came into my head, what is it today that makes me feel proud? Is it the 80+ hours worked last week, the vast amounts of marketing material we have produced, the volunteers who support the union and the services we offer or the way we as a Union work as a team to provide the best we can possibly do.
Well, it's all of it, and none of it Don't get me wrong i'm PROUD of how fantastic we are as a Union and those who are actively involved, but on a personal level i start to challenge myself what exactly I have done to make ME PROUD? Well for that i'm not truely sure. I'll get back to you on that, I took the job to make a difference - i'm just not sure what that difference is yet!!!