Symbiotic Relationship

When learning about symbiotic relationships in biology, many people would define community service as being an example of commensalism, where one party benefits and the other is not affected at all. But after hundreds of hours of service, I can say that serving others is most similar to mutualism, where both individuals benefit tremendously. Being involved in volunteer groups and philanthropic organizations has taught me that community service not only benefits others, but helps an individual achieve self-actualization and learn about their true identity.
My love for helping others and willingness to volunteer rooted from the care I have for my brother. My younger brother was born with a learning disability and it is one of the hardest, but …show more content…
My mother came over to the table and checked my work and with a proud grin, nodded and said “Good job.” She then checked my brother’s work and said, “Luciano, let’s approach this differently and try again.” My brother had started crying and asked my mother and I “Why is school always easy for Gianna, but for me everything is always so hard?” My seven year old self, with bright pink painted fingernails and braided pigtails replied, “Well, that’s what makes me and you different, and I am here to help you.” From that day forward, I saw how my brother felt, and truly understood where most of his frustrations rooted from. I also learned that as a person without any disabilities, it is my duty to help others. Day in and day out I would sit with him and explain each and every homework problem to him until he understood it. Even if it took all night, which it has in many cases, we sat there and worked hard until all of the work was done. My success in inspiring my brother to be confident and indefatigable motivated me to continue what I was good at and branch out to my community and voluntarily spend hundreds of hours to help those in