Why is community service important in todays world?

However, the concept of community service is not very new its important has developed in the past few years. Community service is a way for a person to give back to a community in which they live. There are many ways of giving back to the community; it can include tutoring local elementary students, mentoring local high school students, collecting items for charity, or just simply cleaning up a park. One of the main benefits of community service is that it builds a persons character (John, 2003). It helps you to work on skills of being able to communicate with people, being able to work on a team, and being able to take on leadership role all of these being skills that a person can use throughout their entire lives. Consider, America is fortunate to be one of the worlds 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 and 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. Todays 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, congressional representatives, and even local police officers, all 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 is they serve. According to Michael (2009), 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 have been part of highly organized community service 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 better place for everyone. If we can approach community service, and raise the standard, so maybe the everyday people can once again rise to the heroic levels that are so badly needed to turn around the world and make it better. (505 Words)

References: Jillian John (2003). The Role Of Community Services in Today Societies. Research of Case Study in Texas Arlington University. Lyndia Michael (2009). Community Services In Enhancing People Of Tomorrow. Journal Of Academic Research. Printed in US.