September 16, 2009 – Forty-eight years and eight months ago to this day John F. Kennedy issued a call to service to this great nation. “And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country,” he announced out over the National Mall and echoed on the home televisions of millions of Americans. These words were the end of his Inaugural Address, words that would arouse future generations into paths of service.
Ever since that cold January afternoon in 1961, Presidents have been calling for national service to our country. The most recent call being Barack Obama who sent out his message over a more modern mode of communication; the internet. “I will ask all Americans to make a renewed commitment to serving their community and their country.”
So why are the leaders of our country calling us to service? Why did we do community service in high school? Why are we part of a theme housing program committed to serving Virginia’s New River Valley?
Today in our group discussion we spent a large section of the class learning the finer details of using the ePortfolio website which hopefully everyone figured out. In the next few weeks we should be receiving a visit from Jake’s boss to hear his take on the modern definition of citizenship which could be an exciting variation from our usual class discussions. After we got that out of the way and begin to exchange views on the readings and interviews, many interesting points were bought up.
Some people liked to read the I Believe Essays, but most seemed to like to hear them; from the voice of the author. When you hear a person read their own works, it really seems to give you a different look on the piece. As someone noticed, “By hearing it, you can understand what the author wanted to emphasize, what parts of the wanted to highlight.” The essay about the Doctor from Africa was upsetting. It is amazing how someone can be completely rejected just by the color of your hands, just by how someone else saw him.
By using one of a human’s many sense, the look, one human can consider another human to be nothing to but an inferior. The Doctor did not accept this though. It did not matter to him how the other person felt towards him he would still care for whoever needed him. The lady from the first essay did not care if the people who she loved even liked her; she would still love them because that’s all she knew how to do.
The interviews all seemed to go well even though some people could not get a hold of who they wanted in short notice. “These interviews seemed to be a way of challenging each other,” one person mentioned. We learned that service has different importance to different people. People have different motives behind why the serve.
Not everyone does service for the same reasons which brings me back to the beginning of this blog where I talked about the national call to service. There have always been required community service projects in high schools, whether they be though SGA, Key Club, NHS, or a number of other student run organizations, service has consistently been an integral part of high school and college organizations. When we apply for college they look for community service. Every sorority at Virginia Tech is required to do some sort of service and most fraternities do as well.
This topic was brought up in class and I don’t feel we did an adequate job discussing such a deep issue. Are the motives behind community service important? Is someone who does picks up trash in the park for one reason better then someone who does the exact same job for another reason? Does keeping track of your service hours for a scholarship or something of the sort devalue the service because you are receiving recompense? Is someone doing a service project to get an NHS stole not as good as someone who does a service project for the sake of the greater good of their community?
But what if they do it for the greater good of the community because they think it will one day help them or their children? Is the Mother Theresa still the same amazing, caring, and loving person we all think she was even if she did all the things she did just because she thought it would increase her chances of getting into Heaven? Are the ideas of rational self-interest and objectivism worse than altruism if they accomplish the same task; the same park is cleaned, the same people were fed at the soup kitchen, and the same service project was accomplished?
Quote of the Day: “To do anything less than your best, is to sacrifice the gift.” – Steve Prefontaine
-Submitted by SERVE staff