Service

Monday, January 19th is a National Day of Service. Yes, it’s Martin Luther King Jr. day also, but a day of service sounds like a great idea.

If we take a conceptual view of service, it is really the essence of the ideal human being.  Being unselfish and giving of yourself to benefit another person is the highest station of existence.  If everyone was perfectly unselfish and gave service to as many as they had the capacity for, then we would all have our needs met by others, and we would be the most fulfilled because we would have become useful in providing for the needs of others.

That may sound like some kind of utopian fantasy, but actually, we learn how to live in this manner in the greatest institution of all, the family.

To become a mother or father you are given the responsibility to take care of this strange creature who can not do anything for itself. An infant is completely dependent upon someone else to exist.  As time goes by, it gradually learns to do things for itself (if you’ve taught it).  Still, many years of dedicated service are required by the parents before this being can feed itself, dispose of its waste properly, effectively comunicate, and socially interact properly. 

It is then prepared to be trained by others.  You could say that this means entering pre-school, but you could also say that it means graduating from high school. 

Whatever your perspective, there is no doubt that many years of selfless service are required to produce the kind of being that is able to effectively contribute to society by serving others, and able to produce similar beings of service itself.  The more of these beings you produce, the more selfless service is required.

So on this National Day of Service, try to think of ways to increase the service to those fellow human beings who you have the deepest feelings for, either for those who still need your example and training, or as gratitude to those who gave so many years of service to you.