Sacrifice is hard to see and is often mistaken for other personality characteristic. Sacrificing in everyday life is many times mistaken for kindness, sacrifice is the surrender or destruction of something prized or desirable for the sake of something or someone else. When someone makes a true sacrifice he is not looking for anything in return.

In the widely known book The Bible, people view sacrifice as the killing of an animal, or as ones self. This is not necessarily true; although it can be, but I believe everyone makes sacrifices everyday, and not because they're murdering animals or becoming marauders.

As I was walking through an overly crowded grocery store, I watched a man push a cart filled to the brim with a week's amount of food into a newly opened lane. Just as he was about to start putting his items on the conveyer belt, a middle-aged woman with no more than two items came into the lane behind him. Without hesitation he told her to go in front of him in the line. I don't know if the man knew the woman or not, but by the short glaces and no comments or conversation, it looked to me as if their paths had never crossed before that moment. The man did not know if she was in a rush; maybe she was late to her son's soccer game, or perhaps her daughter's choir concert. Did he make a sacrifice, or was he just being kind? He made a sacrifice. He sacrificed his time in a selfless act for someone else, not to mention he gave up his spot in line. The man at the grocery store did not expect anything in return. Although it was a small sacrifice, it was nonetheless a sacrifice.

My dearest friend Isabella was in band since the fifth grade; coincidentally, that's where we met and became best friends. When she was promoted into high school, she was forced to choose between two of her greatest passions; it was either dance or band because of scheduling conflicts during the first hour of the school day. The decision for her first hour class was not hastily met, but eventually she decided to be in dance class and sacrificed being in the band. Her choice was a sacrifice because she chose being in a class with a friend, Dominique (who can't be self-reliant to save her life.) This was Dominique's first time being in the same school as we (Isabella and I) were are. Isabella knew that Dominique could not handle being alone in a new school, so she chose dance for her.

My mother works for state health care instead of being the paralegal she could be; she works at home for the state, making less money, because she wanted to be there for her kids when we needed her. She sacrificed having a good career to be home and with us. Moms all over the world make a million sacrifices in their lifetime for their kids, including giving up their bodies so there children can live. I applaud them for being such strong people and even that does them a disservice.

I see people I love and people I don't know make sacrifices everyday: in the grocery store, at school, and at home. It seems that they don't get enough credit for being as strong as they really are. Their sacrifices are looked upon like it's kindness or just sensible, but it is so much more. Sacrificing is compassion. Sacrificing is knowing what you want but setting it aside for someone else.