AH! Buber!

This semester I haven't been able to work with a certain organization or group. Instead, I'll be working on the Focus Group Initiative. Yet, in class while listening to people connect the coursework with their service, I can't help but feel like I'm missing out. I also feel like I'm not doing what I'm supposed to, which made me wonder - Do I have to work for a particular community organization in order to apply what I've learned? But, how would this be service learning? Then, before I could really freak out, I answered my own question.
After spending a week or so on Buber's I And Thou, I needed to relax. So, I went to the gym to blow off some steam and get my mind off of school. But, as I was on the stationary bike, minding my own business - AH! Buber! He managed to pop into my brain.
I was watching these two girls on their treadmills. They were on the heavy side. And, I thought, maybe they're trying to loose some weight, good for them. Since I was day-dreaming, my mind floated from several different topics related to this one. Some how I arrived at the idea of how one shouldn't make fun of people who are overweight. Why? Because one day you could be overweight or someone you love is or will be too and one should treat others the way they want to be treated. That's when (AH!) Buber came into my head.
Wait, I thought. This is still connected to me because I'm only concerned with other people's feelings, overweight people in this case, so long as it has to do with me or those that concern me. Me. I. But, what about them? Shouldn't I just care about other people for their own sake, not as being connected to my "I," but for their "You" - for who they are? Poof, for about thirty seconds I felt as if I knew what Buber's I-Thou was all about. So, I guess I don't have to be knee-deep in service to feel the coursework come to life. (Maybe I should have read Buber in the gym...)