Anthony Battaglin

Univ 292 Reflection B

The term service is used frequently in American society to describe any action
of helping someone in any way. The problem with this definition is that service is a lot
more complex than someone simply doing good things for others. Even though
someones intentions may be good, doesnt mean that any good that come out from them.
Service is complex because of inequality, power, and the relationships formed between
those who serve and those who are served.
To be completely honest, I became very frustrated while reading To Hell with
Good Intentions, by Ivan Illich. While I do agree that the money raised by volunteers
could be spent more wisely, I strongly disagree with the majority of his speech. How
could volunteers attempting to help a poor community be considered negative? At the
very least their service could not make a positive impact but at least the made an effort
and the people of that community will appreciate that effort; I know the people in the
community I visited on my brigade sure did. In his speech Illich talks about how
Americans should focus on helping its own poor and avoid helping other countries, but I
say why cant we help both? Illich also mentions the Alliance for Progress and how it
only helped middle class elites. The people I served on my brigade in Honduras were the
furthest thing from middle-class. Some families who werent even ill at the time walked
two hours just to get access to what we consider basic health medication. This further
supports the idea that service is complex because many people we gave medicine too
werent actually sick at the time, but we still provided them with it because they would
need it eventually.
Another article I read that I thought provided insight to the idea that service is
complex was What We Dont Talk About When We Dont Talk About Service, by Adam
Davis. In his article he states, We should recognize that no matter where one comes
down on the goodness of service, service, in principle and in practice, is not simple
(Davis 4). I believe service is complex because of the wide range of emotions we
experience while performing it. I may develop a close relationship with the person I am
serving or I could make no connection with that person at all, this is what makes service
so complex. Another reason I believe service is complex is because it relies on inequality.
We want to believe that everyone is equal but the simple fact is that we are not. Davis
mentions this in his article, We cherish inequality, we dont say this, of course, and we
may not even think it, but we show it by what we do and especially what we accept
(Davis 6). Service requires inequality because without it there would be no one in need of
service if we were all equal. Service is not simple because sometimes it doesnt benefit
the person being served, but that doesnt mean that we should abandon it. At least the
effort was made, and that is what is most important to me. I am an extremely competitive
person when it comes to sports, but at the end of the day, win or lose, the only thing I
care about is that, myself and teammates included, put all our effort into competing.
During my Medical/Dental brigade to Honduras I unfortunately wasnt able to
develop a deep relationship with anyone I served because of how many people my
brigade served in such a short time. However, I know that the people of the community I
served were grateful for my efforts and that means the world to me. Also, during my time
in Honduras I was very fortunate to be able to visit a community called El Ojochal that
had been visited by all the programs of Global Brigades. I saw firsthand that the service
of every brigade had helped this community become holistic. They had finally gained
access to clean, portable water for the first time and in response to Illichs speech, in no
possible way did Global Brigades have a negative impact on this community. They now
had functioning restrooms and showers, a stove outside their houses to prevent asthma,
and concrete floors to reduce their risk of infection.
Finally, after reading Starfish Hurling and Community Service, by Keith Morton,
I found myself on the fence between agreement and disagreement with his article. On one
hand, I agree that comparing service to something that is passive, like a starfish,
compared to humans is not an accurate comparison. However, I believe that what can be
applied to service from starfish hurling is the idea that helping one person is better than
helping no one, even if there are thousands of people who need help. Starfish cannot
voice their opinion, but humans can and that is what makes service complex, because
people are complex beings; people have a wide range of varying beliefs, histories, and
judgment.
All in all, service is a complex idea because of power, inequality, and the
relationships between those who are serving and those who are being served. I believe
Morton describes perfectly what service should be about, Talk, listen, build relationships,
know your self, your environment; work with others where they and the situation itself
can teach you how to act with more and more knowledge and effectiveness.