On Monday January 16, the nation will observe the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. If you visit the website, www.mlkday.gov, you can’t miss the organization’s clarion to service. They quote King’s sage words, “”Life’s most persistent and urgent question is: ‘What are you doing for others?’”
Poised as we are on the brink of so many communal calamities, this question is well worth consideration. It’s one thing to carp about our malaise. It’s wholly another to act against it.
The King Day website admonishes us all to work for a better community and nation, “Service is integral to meeting national challenges on issues such as economic opportunity, disaster services, education, environmental stewardship, healthy futures, and supporting veterans and military families.”
Interestingly, we here in Arkansas have a resource for serving others that no other state can claim. Little Rock is home to the Clinton School of Public Service. It’s the only college program in the nation devoted entirely to the education and development of public service professionals.
As the CSPS Dean James L. “Skip” Rutherford III, writes, “At the Clinton School, our students learn about global leadership and civic engagement both in the classroom and through our unique field service program… the Clinton School promotes a vision of world leaders who are able to work effectively with individuals and organizations to build healthy, engaged and vibrant communities, both in Arkansas and throughout the globe.”
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
As the above quotes suggest, there are innumerable ways in which a person might work toward a better society. Whatever one’s political orientation, race, religious convictions, wealth, intellect or ability — there is an opportunity for their service. Perhaps a master’s degree in public service doesn’t accord with your situation and priorities. Such whole-cloth commitments matter less than the simple resolve to do something… anything… with the sole purpose of making the world a little better.
In a community such as Pine Bluff, one would have to tread the streets eyes closed and ears plugged to avoid opportunities for public service. There is trash to be picked up, children who need mentors, fences (both literal and figurative) that need mending, neighborhood watches that need attendees, public boards that need members, blood drives, food banks, women’s shelters… We are nothing if not a trove of potential service opportunities. As above, many needs for service make no condition of race, faith, class or standing. They just require a moment of public conscience. They beckon for someone to notice “that thing that needs done” and for some intrepid soul to go do it.
The most evocative thing about obvious acts of helping others is that they seem to beget subsequent action. Who among us hasn’t watched a neighbor rake the fall leaves and been spurred to consider our own untended piles of arboreal detritus? Public service works the same way: by motivated example.
To be sure, public service is often a fuse that’s stubborn to light, but once kindled, it can burn quickly. In times such as these we need each other. We need to bring our matches, cup the tentative flame and dare to ignite the needed change.