Why is Community Service Important in Your Life?
To a lot of my friends, community service is a means into the National Honor Society or a fulfillment of the required 30 hours towards the Roman Catholic Confirmation. Community service to them is a way to announce completion, or a way to look for a reward or praise. Some of those same friends think that community service is something you do once or twice a year for four hours on a weekend and then you go back to bed. I’ve even heard classmates discussing how they feel that community service is a form of punishment because they see that in today’s society convicted criminals are given community service as a replacement for jail time. But it has never been that way for those in my family.
Community service doesn’t have just one meaning for me. There are many, many reasons to give back. Community service truly allows me to make a difference. Naturally it allows me to help others, but I’m also able to delve into my city, meet and have fun with new friends, gain valuable work experience, and develop leadership and other professional skills that I’ll someday be able to use in the real world. Community service has helped me understand what life is really about, pursue issues that are important to me, and allowed me to work with varied groups of people, give back to the community and even discover new career options. It builds bonds between those providing the community service as well as those receiving it.
Education
Community service even helps make a connection between what I learn in the classroom and real life experiences. I’m a huge supporter of a progressive education. I oppose the traditional way that students are forced to learn day-in and day-out. We sit at desks in nice straight rows while the teacher lectures from obsolete textbooks, we do our rote memorization, and then we test. They lecture again, and we test again. In my opinion, the traditional classroom, and even to an extent our surroundings outside the classroom, can limit our viewpoint on society, while community service expands it. But a progressive education allows students to get out into the community and really experience how things work and things get done. Community service allows us to be hands-on. It is a crucial part of the high school and college experience, as it is important knowledge that can’t be learned from inside the classroom. Learning through community service demands that students come to grips with the inconsistencies between theories and the actual practices as we move back and forth between the classroom and community service. We must learn to excel upwards in our education and at the same time horizontally through our experiences to the point that our ability allows. But community service has helped me get the most out of my experiences in school. I’ve learned a lot about strength, empathy and even susceptibility.
As a Person
Most importantly, I believe community service should never feel like a responsibility or an obligation to anyone, yet I know that it does. It’s an act of openhandedness and bigheartedness. I feel pride when I’m done at the end of the day, knowing that I’m positively affecting someone’s life. As an individual, I consider myself a quiet introvert. But when I do community service it’s a means of pushing me out of my comfort zone and taking some initiative. It has put me in situations that I might not have been in before, and that has enriched my life. I usually find that I have questions when I go into a project, but I always come out with more than I expected. I’ve experienced the bread lines, being a Big Brother and Lunch Buddy to those that needed a mentor, and loved seeing the faces of athletes at the Special Olympics soccer tournament and the Special Olympics Track and Field event. That’s what it’s all about.
Realization
Through my community service I now realize how lucky I am. I have gained an intense awareness of myself. It has helped me realize the contradictions that we live in. We say that everyone has the same opportunities, but they really don’t. I have learned to appreciate the things I have, but I’ve also learned just how happy people can be without things that most of us consider to be “necessities.” It’s truly a reality check and a motivator to keep making things and others around us, better. There have been times when I’m working on a community project and I feel that my actions are so small, but we all have to realize that no matter how small those actions are, they seem huge to those receiving our help. The smallest things will put a smile on these peoples’ faces because it means so much to them. For example, while working at the local bread line, I was really touched by a mother and her 4-5 year-old son. So when they came through the food line I gave her son a little extra (especially dessert), even though it was against the facility rules. At first there wasn’t much reaction, but once they finished eating the mother came up to me, gave me a big hug, and without saying a word, walked out into the cold night. That’s what it’s all about. I’ll never forget that and I think when I participate in a community service project, I get as much out of it as the person I’m helping.
Other Roles
I also think community service is important as long as an individual is enthusiastically participating. Being forced to do it contributes to a meaningless gesture. I think community service can even include participation in local sporting events, tutoring, being a museum docent, professional organizations like the Jaycees, church, and political activities. Even the sustainability committee that my father sits on to make the community more environmentally friendly qualifies as community service. However, throwing money at a group does not count as enthusiastically participating. As mentioned earlier, I think for students it has to be something they don’t get in the classroo. Community service provides life skills like the ability to lead and interact with others, and certainly being able to handle responsibility.
I participate in community service because I believe there are rewards in doing so beyond what’s noticeable and actual. Community service can also help make certain that important services like meals for shut-ins and volunteer emergency services continue to run. It also helps build a prosperous and compassionate community of people who become familiar with each other and pitch in to help when it is needed.
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