Service Before Self
Public service is good for America and good for the character of her citizenry. Long ago, JFK put it so eloquently when he said,
"Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country."
How many of us today have asked what we can do for our country?
I hazard to guess not many, certainly not enough. I believe it's time to reexamine America's public service policy. Dare I say perhaps we should consider requiring all able bodied high school graduates perform some manner of public service before entering college or the workforce.
My own military experience afforded me countless opportunities to serve others and, in the course of doing so, develop a greater appreciation for America. A remote tour to Cambodia as a United Nations Military Observer in 1992-1993 serves as one good example.
For six months, I patrolled the jungle areas of Cambodia. My mission was to enforce a UN-sponsored peace accord between the Cambodian People's Party and the Khmer Rouge. I witnessed the many hardships and suffering so prevalent in third world countries. It was truly an eye opening experience.
Children with grossly swollen stomachs from malaria parasites with little hope of surviving; injured pedestrians left along roadsides to die for lack of emergency services; villagers trekking great distances to fetch dirty river water used for cooking and bathing; school age boys on 'cyclos' searching for fares or working all day on delicate pieces of jewelry or furniture for sale; happy little children dressed in ragged school uniforms proudly hiking long distances to attend school in makeshift shanties with no books, no chalk, no paper to write on; farmers in hospitals suffering lost limbs from mine explosions while tending their fields; wind, sunlight and rain streaming in through large cracks in hospital walls, no electricity to illuminate or cool rooms and no doctors to treat the sick; the maimed and destitute, many cradling babies, hobbling along streets begging for mercy and a handout; young girls working long into the night at rickety old tables along dark, busy streets supporting their parents and siblings.
There were no emergency services, no clean, fresh water from the tap, no fancy schools, no modern, state-of-the-art hospitals, no sewage treatment facilities, no refrigeration, no electricity. There was nothing. Just the daily grind of a very hard life, the will to live, to make the best of each day, to survive and to love and care for their families the best way they could given their fate in life --- the fate of being born into a third world country.
The experience changed me greatly. I discovered a deep, profound appreciation and love for my country, for all it offered, for all its blessings and all its riches. It was a change brought about by this unique Cambodian experience and by the opportunity to serve others less fortunate.
I felt humbled, thankful, honored, fortunate and blessed to live in the greatest country in the world, the USA. I had grown in so many ways, and would never be the same again.
I think it's time America reexamined her public service policy. Public service by all high school graduates prior to entering college or the work force isn't asking too much. A national program with options to include service in the military, the Peace Corps, inner cities, hospitals, Salvation Army or other similar agencies and organizations should be considered.
Let's at least begin the conversation. Service before self has always been an American value. It must remain so for the sake of our next generation of leaders, for the sake of America.
God bless you. God bless America.
