What Service Means to You
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
President-elect Barack Obama has said:
When you choose to serve -- whether it's your nation, your community or simply your neighborhood -- you are connected to that fundamental American ideal that we want life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness not just for ourselves, but for all Americans. That's why it's called the American dream.
Americans' sense of service has defined us as a people since the very beginning. What does service mean to you as an American? We would to love hear from you as we take up the work of renewing America together.
We've already started getting responses from across the country. Here's what some of you had to say:
.........................................................
Gloria from Florida:
To me, service is 1) a way of expressing gratitude for the blessings I receive and 2) a way to help others.
Charlie from Georgia:
I believe we were created to serve our fellowman by sharing our time, talents, finances and spirit. Service is giving back what I have received to the people within the community and city in which I live. As such I currently volunteer in church and different organizations as events and opportunities become available.
William from South Carolina:
Giving back a small part of myself and time for the betterment of mankind.
Stuart from New Hampshire:
As a returned Peace Corps volunteer, service means working on a one-on-one basis to help fellow human beings. As a Boy Scout leader and Order of the Arrow member, I belong to a "brotherhood of cheerful service", mostly dedicated to enhancing boys' camping and outdoors experiences. As a member of many environmental and outdoor organizations, service means protecting our natural and wild areas. In my community, service means volunteering on the boards of and as part of local service organizations, especially in our local library, parks, and community theatre.
Ermine from New York:
Service means caring about your fellow man again. I am a school teacher in Syracuse, NY, working with ESL children from other countries who are refugees in the U.S. To me, the highest calling in life we can have is to help one another in the journey of our life. The concept of a community, a group of people working and living together, will help us solve any problem that we face, as long as we face it together.
Stephanie from North Carolina:
Service is giving in the spirit of moving people forward and leaving the world better than you find it with no agenda of getting something back in return other than the gift of knowing you had the privilege to serve.
Susan from Maryland:
Service means being available and committed to the needs of others. It means WANTING to give, with cheerfulness and a readiness produced by a love of others and a commitment to their well-being.
John from Iowa:
Often times we see service as something that we do for "those less fortunate," "those who can't do for themselves," or "as a way of giving back to the community." I believe that the roots run more deeply than that. Service is the basic function of living with each other. No group is monolithic or isolated from all others. In fact, there are not distinct groups of people at all, for each blends into another. Service is realizing that truth and living into it.
Debbie from Arizona:
Service is giving back to others from the abundance you have received. True service represents sacrifice. I volunteer to cook once a month at a homeless shelter. I provide the ingredients and cook the meal. Sometimes it costs quite a bit, but never more than I can afford. The true sacrifice is my time, since I work full time, I am in school, sit on a committee of a different charity, and have family obligations. But most of all, I hate to cook!
Carol from Pennsylvania:
My grandfather was killed in the Mather mine explosion with over 300 other men in 1929. My grandmother was carrying her 5th child, a Polish immigrant who could still not read or write English. She not only raised her kids but gave vegetables from her garden to other families who could not cope as well with the loss of their fathers and husbands; she learned enough to work cheerfully ion the factories during the Second World War; and sent her 2 sons onto service. Finally, in an era when girls at 16 were married or sent to work, she valued education enough that she offered a bed and meals to any girl who wanted to finish high school. All of her 3 girls did and all but one of the 5 children and 1 of here 12 living grandchildren had advanced education including several Doctoral degrees. By the way, she shared her 3 bedroom home with another family that had 3 kids to help with expenses (Yeah, 8 kids and 3 adults in 3 bedrooms and the attic plus the extra girl or 2). As children my mother always helped out in the community and taught us to do the same from sharing meals with kids in our school who we know had parents working and would not have a meal to go home to my work as a reading teacher to adults and teaching those who wanted to take their high school equivalency exam.
Terri from Florida:
One of Webster's many definitions of "service" is "an act of giving assistance to another". This is only part of the equation. This act of giving is also a receiving, perhaps not with clear immediacy, but ultimately an act that is part of the circle of community. We act as caretakers of ourselves when we support others. Often, it is only measured in small increments but, often, that is all that is needed Strengthen families!
Patrick from California:
Service means to protect this Country with Honor, Duty and Country not only when it's popular but like in Vietnam which I volunteered for and stood the wire along with the other 5999 at a place called Khe Sanh during the TET, Siege in 1967 and 1968. I am today a C-3 quadriplegic. I help Veterans through example and through the writing that I do with the assistive devices I have to use.
Kate from Colorado:
Service means sharing the work. It means placing the needs of others as a high priority in one's life. It means do unto others. I believe service is a personal responsibility for each of us.
Brittni from Virginia:
Service reminds us that the world is bigger than our individual wants and successes. It keeps us grounded and strengthens the connection to one another and the earth that sustains us.
Penny from Maryland:
It means revitalizing Dr. Martin Luther King's Dream of the possibility of America. America has been selfish for a long time. We celebrated the "Me Generation." Especially in these desperate times, we're caring for our neighbors, our communities once again. That is what America was... it is what it can be again.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
President-elect Barack Obama has said:
When you choose to serve -- whether it's your nation, your community or simply your neighborhood -- you are connected to that fundamental American ideal that we want life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness not just for ourselves, but for all Americans. That's why it's called the American dream.
Americans' sense of service has defined us as a people since the very beginning. What does service mean to you as an American? We would to love hear from you as we take up the work of renewing America together.
We've already started getting responses from across the country. Here's what some of you had to say:
.........................................................
Gloria from Florida:
To me, service is 1) a way of expressing gratitude for the blessings I receive and 2) a way to help others.
Charlie from Georgia:
I believe we were created to serve our fellowman by sharing our time, talents, finances and spirit. Service is giving back what I have received to the people within the community and city in which I live. As such I currently volunteer in church and different organizations as events and opportunities become available.
William from South Carolina:
Giving back a small part of myself and time for the betterment of mankind.
Stuart from New Hampshire:
As a returned Peace Corps volunteer, service means working on a one-on-one basis to help fellow human beings. As a Boy Scout leader and Order of the Arrow member, I belong to a "brotherhood of cheerful service", mostly dedicated to enhancing boys' camping and outdoors experiences. As a member of many environmental and outdoor organizations, service means protecting our natural and wild areas. In my community, service means volunteering on the boards of and as part of local service organizations, especially in our local library, parks, and community theatre.
Ermine from New York:
Service means caring about your fellow man again. I am a school teacher in Syracuse, NY, working with ESL children from other countries who are refugees in the U.S. To me, the highest calling in life we can have is to help one another in the journey of our life. The concept of a community, a group of people working and living together, will help us solve any problem that we face, as long as we face it together.
Stephanie from North Carolina:
Service is giving in the spirit of moving people forward and leaving the world better than you find it with no agenda of getting something back in return other than the gift of knowing you had the privilege to serve.
Susan from Maryland:
Service means being available and committed to the needs of others. It means WANTING to give, with cheerfulness and a readiness produced by a love of others and a commitment to their well-being.
John from Iowa:
Often times we see service as something that we do for "those less fortunate," "those who can't do for themselves," or "as a way of giving back to the community." I believe that the roots run more deeply than that. Service is the basic function of living with each other. No group is monolithic or isolated from all others. In fact, there are not distinct groups of people at all, for each blends into another. Service is realizing that truth and living into it.
Debbie from Arizona:
Service is giving back to others from the abundance you have received. True service represents sacrifice. I volunteer to cook once a month at a homeless shelter. I provide the ingredients and cook the meal. Sometimes it costs quite a bit, but never more than I can afford. The true sacrifice is my time, since I work full time, I am in school, sit on a committee of a different charity, and have family obligations. But most of all, I hate to cook!
Carol from Pennsylvania:
My grandfather was killed in the Mather mine explosion with over 300 other men in 1929. My grandmother was carrying her 5th child, a Polish immigrant who could still not read or write English. She not only raised her kids but gave vegetables from her garden to other families who could not cope as well with the loss of their fathers and husbands; she learned enough to work cheerfully ion the factories during the Second World War; and sent her 2 sons onto service. Finally, in an era when girls at 16 were married or sent to work, she valued education enough that she offered a bed and meals to any girl who wanted to finish high school. All of her 3 girls did and all but one of the 5 children and 1 of here 12 living grandchildren had advanced education including several Doctoral degrees. By the way, she shared her 3 bedroom home with another family that had 3 kids to help with expenses (Yeah, 8 kids and 3 adults in 3 bedrooms and the attic plus the extra girl or 2). As children my mother always helped out in the community and taught us to do the same from sharing meals with kids in our school who we know had parents working and would not have a meal to go home to my work as a reading teacher to adults and teaching those who wanted to take their high school equivalency exam.
Terri from Florida:
One of Webster's many definitions of "service" is "an act of giving assistance to another". This is only part of the equation. This act of giving is also a receiving, perhaps not with clear immediacy, but ultimately an act that is part of the circle of community. We act as caretakers of ourselves when we support others. Often, it is only measured in small increments but, often, that is all that is needed Strengthen families!
Patrick from California:
Service means to protect this Country with Honor, Duty and Country not only when it's popular but like in Vietnam which I volunteered for and stood the wire along with the other 5999 at a place called Khe Sanh during the TET, Siege in 1967 and 1968. I am today a C-3 quadriplegic. I help Veterans through example and through the writing that I do with the assistive devices I have to use.
Kate from Colorado:
Service means sharing the work. It means placing the needs of others as a high priority in one's life. It means do unto others. I believe service is a personal responsibility for each of us.
Brittni from Virginia:
Service reminds us that the world is bigger than our individual wants and successes. It keeps us grounded and strengthens the connection to one another and the earth that sustains us.
Penny from Maryland:
It means revitalizing Dr. Martin Luther King's Dream of the possibility of America. America has been selfish for a long time. We celebrated the "Me Generation." Especially in these desperate times, we're caring for our neighbors, our communities once again. That is what America was... it is what it can be again.
