The Importance of Community Service

America is fortunate to be one of the world’s birthplaces of the concept of community service. Early pilgrims had to serve each other to keep from dying in early times. When the early colonists realized they had a choice between tyranny or freedom they banded together in every community and formed minutemen militia to keep their communities safe from the tyranny of British military oppression. Men, woman, and children with deep conviction and high integrity rose to face the difficulty of the times with heroic character.

Today’s society has problems as well as any other time in our history. People today go homeless and starve, gangs form power structures and destroy communities through guns, drugs, and fear. Daily we see dramatic scenes of the very people who should be the lighthouses of community service. Presidents, congressmen, and even local policemen, all of whom should be setting the example of community service for the rest of us to follow are instead riddled with corruption, poor character, and far more concern for themselves than any community they serve.

Community service in its ideal form is a way of doing something positive for the community. When everything in the community seems to be breaking, families falling apart at the seems, economic leaders telling us to prepare for a loss of economic will, I get upset and I ask myself have we really arrived at a true and lasting definition of what community service really means. I have helped feed the homeless on many occasions through many different church groups. Very much have I enjoyed providing Christmas presents for families in distress. I’ve been part of highly organized community services like coaching troubled youth in roller hockey. This was what I knew and what I could offer to my community because I had the opportunity.

These are great experiences and we need to see them bloom in small and large communities all across the nation. Community service is a positive way of making the community a