What does it mean to serve your community?

I’ll start off by saying the generic answer: it is my duty to give back to the community as a Baruch scholar. I have been granted a seat in Baruch’s Honor program, receiving full tuition. As a result, I am expected to be a “role model” for others. I am meant to showcase the perseverance and hard work associated with Baruch honor students. But we all know this. We all understand that community service is fundamental to the development of society. Many of us performed various acts of community service throughout high school. I dont need to ramble on about facts we already know.

What I want to talk about today is MY thoughts on serving the community. I have always been a thinker. I like to think; I like to observe. My thoughts may be somewhat abstract, and may not directly relate to serving the community in most people’s eyes. No worries. I will strive to become the best person I may be, regardless of what others think of me or how they view my thoughts and actions. But, I digress. Back to my perception of serving my community. When I think of my community, I think of all those that are less fortunate than I am. In our requirement of community service as a Baruch scholar, most of us are volunteering at organizations. We may be  helping these organizations with events, or the like. There is nothing wrong with this, by any means. Its just that for me, I will only truly serve my community to help those truly in need. When I think of my community, I don’t think of my neighborhood as my community, I don’t think of my city as my community, I think of the world as my community. I don’t believe in helping just people around me, but across the globe as well. I have seen many different things in my life that have altered my life. Call me sensitive if you will, but the things I see have a profound impact on my character. I have become greatly depressed when I have seen the pictures of starving kids in Africa, when a homeless mother begs me to help her feed her child in Pakistan (the country of my ancestry), when I see a kid my age selling candy on the street, while having no arm.

I have always been sensitive, even since an early age. Regarding the last example I gave, I remember one time I was in the car with my parents driving somewhere — I cannot recall where exactly– at the age of 6 or 7. We stopped at a red light, and outside my window at car in front of us, I saw a boy about my age now, with no arm, selling candy from a box around his shoulders. This was the first time I had seen someone less fortunate than I was. Living in America, I had been sheltered and had been oblivious to the sufferings in the world. I saw this boy and a rush of emotions came to me. I felt this pain in my heart, a pain I had not known existed in the world. I began to cry in the back seat of my parents car. The tears poured out of me like a waterfall pouring down a hill. Since then, I became more and more exposed to these situations around me, especially during my visits to Pakistan. I become very influenced by these exposures. I am exposed to such situations here in America as well. Just last night, I was in my doctors office waiting for my yearly flu shot. Across from me was a kid, maybe 8 years old. He was physically and mentally impaired. He had a neck brace and some sort of tube on his throat to help him breath. He could not speak, and could only make sounds. He was cross eyed and could not stand properly without losing his balance. I looked down and muttered a silent prayer for him.

It is these situations that have made me decide that one day I will do everything in my ability to serve these people. Every second of my life that I live, I live for these people. I live for these people because they cant. I want to be successful so that I may give back to the unfortunate. I dont care for wealth. What is money? It only has monetary value. However, I want to have money so that I may give back to these people. I may not be able to help them in any other way, but at least I can try to do something. It is my ultimate goal to one day go to an impoverished country and meet with the less fortunate.  I want to talk to these people and let them know that I care, more than anything. And it is not just poor people that I want to help. I have the same feelings regarding people with diseases such as cancer. It is mind boggling to think about all the suffering in the world. It is painful knowing that there is so much pain, and that I cannot help everyone. I hope to start my own charity one day and help as many people as I can. If I am not able to this, I will definitely donate a large portion of my money to various organizations. I may not be Warren Buffet or Bill Gates, but mark my words, I will give back. If I may, I want to visit schools for the disabled and fundraisers and contribute some time there. This is my ultimate goal of how to serve my community. I can do anything else, volunteer at any organization or hospital, but I will never be truly satisfied unless I achieve this goal.

Thank you to anyone who has read this post until the end. It is one of many things I feel very passionate about. Although I may have gone off topic, I could not stop writing until I got the majority of my feelings across.