Modern Kentuckians all want to be "Do-Gooder"s. High School students log service hours. Churches preach about volunteerism and the Good Samaritan. On Thanksgiving and Christmas, soup kitchens are so flooded with families armed with ladles to fight hunger that some volunteers must be turned away.
But we’ve got it all wrong.
While our intentions may be the purest, our flaws are fatal. The fact is, homeless individuals are starving not just on our favorite holidays, but on the other 363 days in a year. In addition to soup kitchens, there are unspeakable numbers of less-publicized non-profits in need of assistance from the YMCA Safe Places to the National Park Services. Serving cannot continue to be a quota we fill, an occasional event we pencil in, or a Placebo to make us feel good about ourselves. Service must become a way of life. Our community depends on it.
Regis Murayi, a student at Washington University in Saint Louis said about community service, "I believe that a society cannot be truly successful with a mentality that every individual should only worry about themselves and in the end things will work out for the best. Community service is about building a stronger community whether on campus, in your neighborhood, city, state, or any other type of community. "
Service is everything from holding a door open to making donations to baking extra cookies for a neighbor to holding a food drive. It encompasses working with individuals, with companies, with non-profits, and with your family. Service can involve people, nature, office work, construction, politicians, and newspapers. Regardless of the form it takes, service MUST be a part of your daily life.
Join the movement to create a better Kentucky. Challenge yourself to pay it forward and begin the cycle of giving. Ask yourself, how was Kentucky when you arrived, and how will you leave it when you die?
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