Column: Giving whole-heartedly essence of community service
Published Oct. 22, 2010
According to the National Institute for Achievement, “Your résumé means everything.”
Maybe the NIA isn’t a real organization — big deal. This sentiment still holds true for a large portion of success-oriented youths (as opposed to their failure-oriented counterparts). All around the world, you can find young adults and older adults doing things to “build” their resumes.
Imagine this: many people helping people in order for other people to believe they’re good people.
Back in my old high school days, we used to have a community service club cleverly named GIVE. GIVE members were typically ambitious and often had to juggle their time between servicing the community and attending an array of other club meetings: Future Business Leaders of America, Future Health Professionals of America, Future Political Pundits of America -- the list goes on.
I remember the first GIVE event I ever attended. It was at a nursing home around Halloween. We spent three hours decorating orange construction paper with googly eyes, glitter and an assortment of markers. Apparently the elderly love to watch students make Liberace-esque holiday ornaments.
Four of us sat around a large round table with a lady in her nineties whose son had just recently been divorced. She kept telling me about it every three minutes. I would nod politely, work on coloring and grab onto my friend’s knee for assistance.
The two girls across the table talked about prom; on the other end of the room, a few court-ordered volunteers discussed joint-rolling techniques; the nerdy student coordinator stood awkwardly over a group of pretty girls, surveying the scene down their shirts; and all the while, an old man kept mumbling about the dinner menu.
The last thing on almost every student volunteer's mind was the presence of elderly folk. We were young and consumed by teenage thoughts: sex, drugs and the homecoming dance. So why did we choose to go there, in the middle of week, coloring amid seniors?
Obviously, we wanted to be able to transcribe that experience on our college applications. We wanted admissions officials to smile at our long list of good deeds and at our dedication to the community. If we could get into a prestigious school, we would have a fulfilling life.
There is nothing wrong with community service. Sometimes you can be forced into doing it and in the process, learn something new and experience growth. The real dilemma occurs when you turn kind deeds and skill-building experience into nothing more than an impressive blurb on your résumé.
I meet a lot of really accomplished students regularly here at MU, and oftentimes they make me feel inadequate. While they’ve been tutoring six languages to foreign students and rescuing puppies, I’ve been sitting on my ass watching TV.
Lately, I’ve found myself stuck in this trap of wanting to do things I don’t really want to do. What a conundrum, huh? I see people listing off their accomplishments on fingers and toes with a shrug, and I want that, too. How great would I look if I could write down that I volunteer at an animal shelter?
The truth is, I don’t really want to volunteer at an animal shelter. First of all, I don’t really like most animals, so the experience would just be irritating. Secondly, I don’t think most of us are at a point in our lives when we can really appreciate giving.
Our time is not infinite, and unless we want nothing more to help our community (which is noble and fair), it’s kind of useless to extend a limp hand.
When my future bastardly children put me in a nursing home in 70 years, the last thing I’ll want is to spend an afternoon coloring with a bunch of hoodlums who don’t give a shit. You’re doing more damage by not caring in the midst of doing. If you’re out there to help but your mindset isn’t, well, go home.