David wrote a psalm which describes the person who loves both God and his neighbor. It also speaks pointedly of friendship. Psalm 15 summarizes the characteristics of the true friend.

Friends “speak the truth from their heart [and] do not slander with their tongue.”

Friends “do no evil to their friends, nor take up a reproach against their neighbors.”

Friends “stand by their oath even to their hurt.”

Friends “do not lend money at interest.”

Friendship is love expressed in acceptance and commitment. It is acceptance of another person and commitment to another person regardless of the consequences. Friendship is not a flippant relationship. It is consistent and unfailing love. It is being there when you’re needed and making no excuses. To be a true friend is to be a person someone can count on.

(via InterVarsity.org)

UC Berkeley recently published an article on their website about serving others.  It’s pretty interesting.  From this article, there are definitely some pluses to serving, however I do believe that we should be able to serve each other regardless of what the outcome is from us.

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“Nice guys finish last,” the saying goes—but not according to a recent study, which finds that serving others might be linked to personal and professional success.

The study, published in the Journal of Career Assessment, investigated the relationship between students’ motivation to help others and their career paths. Researchers Ryan D. Duffy and Trisha L. Raque-Bogdan measured how motivated 265 undergraduates were to serve others and found that students with greater motivation had more optimism about their career, greater ability to adapt to new tasks and working environments, and less indecision about their careers

What’s more, their results suggest that the motivation to serve others may actually cause career optimism, not the other way around.

Duffy and Raque-Bogdan speculate that thinking about the altruistic aspects of one’s work may help young adults become more motivated and focused as they approach their careers. “It may be that viewing one’s career, in part, as a way to make a difference in society gives students added drive to meet their future career goals,” they write.

Based on their findings, the researchers recommend that people advising young adults should encourage them to think about the “pro-social” dimension to their career choices, considering how their careers can help others in addition to themselves.

“As a primary goal for many college-level career counselors is to help students make a particular career decision,” they write, “encouraging an exploration of the pro-social components of one’s career may be a fruitful process.”

(via UC Berkeley)

In celebration of Brian’s Birthday – Legacy Movement will be giving away a free t-shirt. Entering this giveaway is easy!  Simply go to our Facebook page and tag your self on this photo: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=5090298&fbid=427718509951&id=26431129951.  The first 50 people tagged and the first 50 people who add themselves on our mailing list (http://eepurl.com/ePOZ)will be entered into the drawing. YOU CAN DO BOTH!  Best of luck!

Anyone knows that going to the grocery store – especially without a car can be a drag.  I heard some of my friends were heading to Superior , the grocery store next to USC, and buying some liters of sodas and chips.  Rather than having them walk back to campus with heavy bags of groceries, I offered to give them a ride.  It’s cool seeing how simple, yet unexpected acts of love can have such a good impact on people.

So, I admit it – I’m bad with this blogging everyday, so here’s a catch up on all my acts of love.

On Wednesday night/ Thursday morning, I gave a ride back to friend despite having 2 final presentations and a final project due on that day.  Although it was a short distance – rides back at night, especially in south central LA, can be a real blessing to people.

First of all, want to apologize for being late on this post.  This is my Act of Love #1

So, Barack Obama came to USC today and blocked off all the streets going to my apartment. As a result – I had to park far away. Everyone was angry, speeding, trying to maneuver the LA traffic, when suddenly, a Mercedes Benz broke down right in front of me. I was about to go cut to the right to maneuver myself past the Mercedes when a car pulled to the left of me, so I couldn’t cut into the other lane.  Coincidentally, a parking space was open to the right of me.  So, I decided to park my car right there and help this man. He was going to see the president, and all of a sudden, his car broke down. Perfect opportunity to do my act of love.  I got out of my car and pushed his car to an illegal parking spot. He said thanks. Afterwards I headed back to my car to pick up my stuff, but I felt like I should still help this man. I approached him again asking if he still needed help – because I really hand nothing else to do. And all of a sudden, the car in front of us pulls out and a parking space opens up for us to park in!! I then helped him push his car to the spot. His name was Tod.   And despite my initiall frustration with LA traffic and LAPD for blocking off all my streets – I walked back feeling good that I got to love Tod that day.