Before you read today’s post please know that a) it is long so be sure to read it entirely before commenting b) it is as close to historically accurate as my mother’s memory c) there is a rant at the end and d) I applaud the call to service and the work Barack Obama and his team has done with USA Service.  I support that initiative, for a commitment to service to others, whole-heartedly and encourage you to take part if you can.

Inspiration Inspires

And so my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country.

My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.

-John F. Kennedy‘s Inaugural Address January 20, 1961

My parents heard the words of John F. Kennedy live.  They know where they were November 22, 1963 when they first heard the news of his assassination.  My father was on the army base in New Jersey he had been assigned to.  It was those very words of JFK at his inauguration that had inspired my father to join the Army at the age of 19 as a way he could serve his country.  My mother was returning from her lunch hour at the FAA Administration Building.  Instead of going home that night straight from work, she went to the local soup kitchen where she was a twice weekly volunteer where the discussion of the future of the country looked bleaker over ladles of soup and slices of donated Italian bread.  No, they did not join the Peace Corps like Elyse and Steven Keaton(*), but chose rather to provide the service to their country that was needed in their own way to their own communities around them.

With their volunteer days a few years behind them, they married in 1967 and moved to settle down in what is considered a proverbial neutral ground between the communities they originated from.  So they settled, ironically in a neighborhood where 75% of the land was cemetery, in the middle.  Then in 1981 their beloved and most cherished first born (me) decided that he wanted to join the local Cub Scout Pack.  Of course, what would a story about my parents be without a twist of horror thrown in.  They denied their beloved and most cherished first born this right of passage into manhood citing both the preparation of First Holy Communion and ongoing speech therapy as things that would prevent such extra curricular activity.  The fact that the second born was currently teething had nothing to do with it, my mother assures me.

So in 1982 my parents finally relented and enrolled me in the local Cub Scout Pack.  For Scouting to be successful, like all other volunteer organizations, it requires the involvement and commitment of not just the youth but the adults as well.  My parents each contributed to the Cub Scout Pack, my father running the Cub Scout Baseball Program and my mother being the Pack trip coordinator, for over a decade although my own involvement lasted only two years and both my brother and I had graduated into the associated Boy Scout Troop by the time they finished up and handed over their responsibilities to new people in 1994.

Boy Scouting is very different than Cub Scouting.  Tents and knots replaced popsicle stick jewelery boxes and racing cars made out of blocks of wood.  The Scouting tenets of honor and duty remained constant throughout, but in Boy Scouting they added the tenet of service.  There were a variety of different services provided by the Boy Scouts.  Everything from trail clean ups, to cemetery landscape maintenance, and cleaning up after a church fundraiser taught us about teamwork, sacrifice for the greater good, and membership of a greater community.  Service to family, to Troop, and to community plays an integral part in the Scouting experience and coupled with the concept of Christian charity, there is a definite sense of responsibility instilled into a person, as it was into myself.

Instillation Commits

While my career of service with the Scouts came to an end in 1995 due to an acute difference of opinion with the Scoutmaster of my Troop, for which I had become an Assistant Scoutmaster when I was effectively kicked out for turning the ripe old age of 18, it should be noted that John F Kennedy was by far not the only President who ever placed a call for selfless service out to the American people.

I have spoken of a thousand points of light, of all the community organizations that are spread like stars throughout the Nation, doing good. We will work hand in hand, encouraging, sometimes leading, sometimes being led, rewarding. We will work on this in the White House, in the Cabinet agencies. I will go to the people and the programs that are the brighter points of light, and I will ask every member of my government to become involved. The old ideas are new again because they are not old, they are timeless: duty, sacrifice, commitment, and a patriotism that finds its expression in taking part and pitching in.

-George H. W. Bush‘s Inaugural Address January 20, 1989

My volunteerism did not end with Scouting.  In 1994 I became a volunteer dispatcher for my local ambulance corps.  It was through my time there that I decided to take an EMT course, get a job on an ambulance so I could pay off my college tuition that was collecting interest on my Visa, and then after six months go back to school so I could finish up and make my uber-successful indie movie that would rocket me to red carpet status in Hollywood.  Funny how things don’t quite work out the way you see them… but that’s neither here nor there. 

I regularly volunteered in a number of roles and positions at the ambulance corps from 1994-2002 when I moved to Pennsylvania.  From 2002-2005 my volunteer time was more sporadic, but became regular again from 2006 until the actual present day and I have even shared the experience of a typical night with you all.  That sporadic period is representative of difficulties from geographical location, financial stability, and personal family issues… all of which are factors in every volunteers life.  Interestingly, quite a few of the people I volunteer with were either in the same Scout Troop as I was or in one nearby.  The instillation of that sense of duty and responsibility is evident even today.

The Folly Of Inspiration

Now I am going to tell you the harsh truth which is really the entire point of this post.  I keep hearing how President-Elect Barack Obama is “inspiring people to service.” I keep hearing about how Barack Obama‘s “message” is that “…real lasting change in our country has to come about by Americans getting involved again….” Newsflash.  I’m an American and I’ve been involved for quite some time.  I know quite a few Americans who have been involved for quite some time.  So it leaves a whole lot of us who remained true to our commitment in the community wondering where does this again crap come from?

Inspiration and being ”inspired” is a terrible folly my dear friends, when it comes to volunteerism.  Volunteers are committed to effecting change for the better in their community through hard work and sacrifice.  Yes, there is sacrifice in being a volunteer.  The sacrifice made is not always necessarily in time either.  Don’t believe me?  Just look at any of these posts and understand that there are two names on those lists who were volunteers that day.  Without a doubt they sacrificed.  People who are ”inspired” are not committed to the betterment of community through teamwork.  They do not share the same sense of responsibility or duty and once their ”inspiration” has lost its luster or is gone, so are they.  Just like my own parents after JFK‘s assassination.  Inspiration goes *POOF*… volunteers go *POOF*.

Please don’t think this happens only on the national level.  This happens on the local level the same way.  A new person takes an office or a role in an organization, and they put out a call to service of their own and bring their friends in to help them.  The organization is flooded with fresh blood, new ideas, and a renewed energy to take on the issues.  Then there are a few speedbumps, and a few of those who flooded in get taken out in the same tide.  Then another month goes by, another few speedbumps, and a few others fall off the bandwagon.  Then the cycle repeats, and repeats, and repeats until you are left with your core of dedicated volunteers and its time to nominate/elect/select a new leader and the cycle literally repeats itself.  This same cycle happens in local and state civic organizations, charities, parent teacher associations, and pretty much every single type of volunteer organization.  There are the exceptions every now and then.  Either the leader will be able to maintain their luster for longer than average or you may get a convert or two, but the ratio is truly minimal at best.

Inspiration does not lead to everlasting change.  A sense of loyalty, duty, and a commitment to the betterment of the community around you leads to change.

The Truth About Volunteerism

It is true that over the years there has been a dwindling in volunteerism.  This can be seen in organizations across the entire country.  This was being seen by the Peace Corps even before Jimmy Carter took office.  This was being seen by the Boy Scouts even before their controversial 1991 Memorandum excluding homosexuals from the organization.  This was being seen by volunteer fire departments and ambulance corps even before governmental regulation began in earnest.  So why would there be such a decline when there is obviously a need?

Geographical location plays a role in the decline.  As commutes got longer, free time at home and time with the family got shorter.  A longer commute also would mean that training sessions for the skilled volunteer positions would need to start later in the day which therefore would end later at night and possibly put the volunteer home towards midnight depending on where they themselves were living in relation to the training and that could adversely affect the morning commute for the volunteer.  Weekend training would seem the obvious solution, but trying to coordinate the schedules of nine students (presumably with families) and one instructor (presumably with a family) without taking into account religious restrictions is still a difficult task.

Changes in the structure of families plays a role in the decline.  The rise of the single parent household places the responsibilities of two parents onto the shoulders of one.  With this added responsibility, volunteerism becomes more of a chore than a choice as the single parent tries to succeed at both work and home.  The addition of volunteerism, unless in a child specific organization, is highly unlikely.

Financial stability, and the lack thereof, plays a role in the decline.  Time is money.  If a family is unable to be supported by a single income, like most families today, then both parents need to work.  Between job requirements (hours worked, training, etc) and family necessities it is possible that there may be additional jobs worked as well.  Families that are not financially stable are spending their free time trying to become financially stable, and volunteerism unfortunately pays nothing financially.

In Conclusion

*** Words Still To Be Spoken.  Results Of Action Still To Be Witnessed. ***

-Barack Obama‘s Inaugural Address January 20, 2009

To have the ability to actually effect change is something you need to commit to and most importantly actually take action towards.  Being a volunteer is not something you can just suddenly be inspired to become no matter how ”inspiring” those words may be.

With all that said, are you still being inspired or are you ready to truly commit and sacrifice?