Tim Joseph

2-6-2019
Patrick Green& Susan Haarman
EXPL 291-Section #013

How to View Service

While service does aim to improve the lives of those who might be less fortunate, it is not

as simple as some make it out to be. In the reading “Starfish Hunting and Community Service”

by Keith Morton, that story of the boy throwing the starfish back in the ocean always reflected a

positive light on service, however it did not shine a light on everything that service is supposed

to reflect. One thing that Morton brought up was when he wrote, “In most of the situations where

this story is told, service is about people working with people: people with histories, voices,

opinions, judgment, more or less power” (Morton). While the starfish story does reflect the idea

that helping one individual may not change the whole situation, it does show how it can the

whole situation for one individual’s life. However, as the quote showed, the starfish don’t have

much depth to them, as people do. In my last reflection, I talked about the group I was part of

going to a mental housing facility and saying how spending time and valuing their stories is what

they really enjoyed. Another thing that Morton wrote, “the tale of the starfish pretends to teach

us something about community service, even as it misdirects our sympathies, our intellects and

our sense of purpose” (Morton). The starfish story does not really convey a sense of community,

rather it shows an individual doing all of the work. For service to have a larger impact, multiple

people have to be involved. The impact that the group had was done because it was done by

multiple people working together on a common goal rather than people individually doing their

own thing.

In the Ted Talk by Cormac Russel, he had a lot of great points that showed how

community development should be done. One thing that he said that stood out was,” These are

ordinary people, uncredentialed people doing extraordinary things, and we see this every single
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day when we start with focus on what’s strong and not what’s wrong” (Robertson 2016). This

quote stood out to me cause Russel showed awesome examples of how much of an impact this

made with people when he talked about the 70 year old man making canes which was what he

was good at and teaching others, or the one man who picked up trash up from a beach to make a

pirate ship with a community to make it a tourist attraction. For me, this showed while people

may have issues that need to be addressed, when people focus on their strengths it gives them a

purpose that they may not have had before. Another thing that he spoke on is the idea of “us”

rather than the top-down relationship. For community-based research to be effective, all people

have to work together and work with the sense that no one is above another human being. That

means communicating with each other and being honest as well to ensure that the community is

able to grow stronger. When the class goes to Chicago Friends School on February 7th, what the

strengths and weaknesses of the community have to be known, and also, as discussed in class,

everyone should view each other as equals. We are working together as a community to help

make a positive change. There should be no conception that the community from Loyola is

above theirs, rather the two groups assimilate and work together to make positive change and

help find value in what they can do. By working on the strengths on a community, it shows them

that they have a role in the grand scheme of things.

In Randy Stoecker’s text, he explains a lot on how to get the most out of community

based research with his examples and explanations of them. In Chapter 2, he talks about his time

as a graduate student studying the neighborhood he was studying, and he explained how one of

the leaders wanted to see a copy of the paper he was going to write. He talked about how other

researchers in the past acquired data without accountability. Stoecker wanted to be different, so
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Patrick Green& Susan Haarman
EXPL 291-Section #013

he decided he wanted to make a positive contribution. From what I can tell from the readings,

many communities think researches just come into their community just for data, not concerning

themselves with what the community needs. For Stoecker, to relive the tension, he had to show

that he was committed to the community and their well-being rather than just thinking about

himself and his work. The data that is acquired has to be done so through the collaboration of the

people and the researchers, as Stoecker points out. He writes, “One of the best ways to make sure

that the research will be useful… is for the people affected by the research to guide it”

(Stoecker, 2013, pg. 29). Researchers have to realize that they do not know the community the

best, rather the community knows themselves the best. Researcher have to be willing to ask

questions in order to ensure that the data that is being collected is valid. While I cannot speak on

this personally through experience, when the class goes to Chicago Friends School, it is up to us

to know as much about the school as possible. What we learn about the school can help lead to

data that is relevant and is actually useful for the school to use in turn. In Chapter 3, Stoecker

writes, “But even more important is building the capacity of the community members to organize

themselves so that they can achieve their own community goals” (Stoecker, 2013, pg. 50). As

said in the Ted Talk, the idea to empower the community is what should be the focus of research.

Rather than focusing on their weaknesses, the focus should be on what makes them unique.

In conclusion, while service does have the simple goal of improving the quality of life for

a community, there is a deep complexity to it due to the fact that human beings are being

involved. Rather than focusing on the weaknesses of communities, the strengths that they have

should be expanded on to make them feel like they serve an essential role in society. There

should be an idea that the community and the researchers are working as one unit. Everyone is
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EXPL 291-Section #013

equal and should be treated with respect. As researchers, we have to make sure to remember that

the community’s well-being is most important.