Jordan Valentic-Holden

Prof. Green
Jan 28, 2016
EXPL 292

Reflection A

Community service is something almost expected of people in todays society. Schools,

sports, and places of work all offer the opportunity for the people theyre involved with to help out in
various communities. While the increase in numbers of people involved in community service is
easy to see, their approach to and reasons for service are harder to decipher. The institutions
mentioned have increased their involvement in community service through initiatives and, what can
only be described as, mandatory voluntarism. Personally, sport has been a great avenue for
myself to become involved in community service. Working with various groups and people to do a
range of things from show underprivileged kids what theyre future could hold to simple acts such
as helping to run orientation days at Loyola University Chicago. In Adam Davis, What We Dont
Talk About When We Dont Talk About Service, issues such as a potential for superiority and
inferiority to be present and the inherent goodness of service are called into question as Davis
points out the potential shame and negative feelings of those receiving service. Due to these often
overlooked issues, service becomes more complicated than what it seems at first glance.
The majority of my involvement in community service has come from my years spent
involved in sport and at school in New Zealand and the United States. While I cant lay claim to any
incredible feat of community service, I dont believe this is what community service is about. My
approach to community service is that everyone is equal: one persons time isnt worth more than
another persons, one act is not considered more good than a different act, and the servicer and
the person receiving service are no better or worse than one another. In my eyes, an hour of
picking up litter is the same as spending an hour in a soup kitchen or in a retirement village. In
each of these scenarios a person has given up an hour of their time in order to help those in need,

it doesnt matter if this person works an 80 hour week or is currently unemployed, my view is that
this time is all equal and each person can be happy in the service that they have given. I also
believe that it does not matter how big or small an act may seem to an outside source, we can take
picking up litter vs. working in a soup kitchen as an example. Its impossible for one to determine
the value of service to a person and while something may seem insignificant (such as picking up
litter) it may have a large effect on people it may not have been intended for. Perhaps a retail
developer chooses a certain area due to its cleanliness which then leads to development of the
community and more job communities, all simply from a few people picking up rubbish.
Additionally, I think that everyone involved in service are equal and being in a position to be able to
give service does not make you superior to someone requiring service. A personal example of
mine comes from service I did with the Loyola Mens Soccer team and its relationship with the high
school soccer team of one of the teams Alumni. I was in the position of showing these
underprivileged high school students around Loyola, showcasing facilities and talking about my
college experience. I emphasised the hard work it took in the classroom and on the soccer field to
get here and attempted to make a point of how achievable this was for those that put in the effort.
At no point through out the hours I spent with the students did I feel a sense of superiority due to
my our current and differing positions, instead I grasped the idea that not everyone can find
themselves in ideal circumstances and its not my place to feel above these people due to what
was provided to me growing up.
Superiority and inferiority arent typically linked with community service, the idea of equality
runs through service as an unspoken rule. However, Davis raises the issue of this inequality in
service by boiling down how community service works. In many cases a person must, receive my
service because you have to; you need it, or else theyre going to be negatively impacted, such as
being hungry and starving. Inequality creeps into service due to what Davis describes as, the
realm of freedom, the servicer doesnt have to be doing community service yet the person
receiving the service is living in, the realm of necessity, where they need the help of someone
else. These two different realms create an opportunity for superiority and inferiority to come into
community service. This issue can lead to problems in community service such as attracting

people for the wrong reasons, for the reason of feeling superior to others in a setting where it is not
welcome. However, more importantly than attracting the wrong people would be pushing away the
people that need community service in order to survive and live in acceptable living conditions.
Very few people would be inclined to seek help from those that serve soup as well as the feeling of
inferiority, many would simply choose not to seek out help and would suffer the consequences of a
seemingly easy problem to solve. Inequality in service is something obviously unwanted and,
where it is present, needs to change. Davis talks about how we are taught that, all men are
created equal, and how this is clearly not true due to the lack of possessing, equal gifts and we
do not find ourselves with equal opportunities to make our way in the world. While I agree with
Davis on this, I also believe that, in the realm of service, we can remove much of the inequality
through education. Educating community workers on peoples backgrounds builds a personal
connection and emphasises empathy in the interaction, the line of people in a soup kitchen now
becomes individuals with names and stories that are rich and colourful.
A primary reason for people to serve is the good that they do, the good they do for their
community and the people in it. However, another issue that Davis brings up is the potential for
good to be absent from community service. Davis does express that service, might be good for
me (doing the serving), it might be good for them (being served), it might be good for us (as a
society), or, weirdly enough, it might be good for God, but also implies that there might be
instances where it is not good. From my point of view, it can be clear that it is possible for service
to be good for both parties involved: the server gets the positive feeling of knowing they have
helped someone in need whereas the person receiving the service gets what they need (food,
shelter, someone to talk to etc.) This is not the only way this scenario can play out, Davis uses the
same situation to illustrate his lack of goodness issue by describing, you serve me a meal at a
soup kitchen, and this puts my need on display, which demeans me and makes you
uncomfortable. Feeling demeaned and uncomfortable are not positive by any stretch of the
imagination yet are possible in this situation. This issue is one of personal feeling potentially arising
from a stigma relating to being in need, such as the person in the soup kitchen. An understanding
is needed in this situation in order to overcome the stigma and this understanding could, again,

come from more education, this time on the person receiving services side. If the person receiving
service can understand that this situation is not permanent and given examples of individuals that
have been in the same place then they may be able to welcome the help of community service and
resolve the issue that Davis has raised.
In conclusion, these issues make service far more complicated than what it seems at face
value. Inequality and negative feelings are almost opposite to what my, and many others, idea of
what community service is. However, Davis makes the point, in the final part of his piece, that this
is a possibility when we do not discuss service. When we do not reflect on service it can seem
simple yet after we sit down and analyse it, the complications begin to arise. When we do not
discuss service, we run the risk of having the issues mentioned become more prevalent. Those of
us that engage in community service need to do more than the act, we need to understand what it
is that were doing and all the potential consequences of our actions; positive and negative.
Complications of service arise when we do not discuss the issues that can be found and the only
way for us to combat this is to engage in personal and group reflection on the things that we do to
help the community. Issues need not take over the goodness that come with service but, as Davis
ends his piece, it remains a burden, and the less we acknowledge it, the heavier it gets.