We played basketball and we played a lot of soccer. We did art projects together and we sometimes just watched cartoons. Basically we enjoyed a lot of laughter and social bonding. They learned as much about me as I did about them, and we created our own little community right there. I acted as a civic-minded professional with the children, because I understood my role and responsibility as their mentor. Before I started volunteering I acted as a concerned citizen, but this work transformed my self-image. I had never realized what social service was until I started working with the refugees. The work seemed so natural that I knew I could translate anything I did professionally into social service.
In an individualistic society, community service is an anomaly. We have a hard time understanding why someone would want to work for free to help others, when they could spend that time watching television or playing video games. We learn that helping others can easily backfire and so we should keep to ourselves as much as possible. The result is a sick state of social affairs. As Bellah and his co-authors describe, the United States prides itself on its individualist philosophy. The cowboy mentality, the fascination with individual heroes and the cult of personality are all fine in small doses. However, many problems in American society can, as the authors argue, be traced to an overemphasis on individualism and an under-emphasis on selflessness.
Having met and interacted with children from Africa and raised with African values, I fully understand and believe what Bellah et al. are saying. Watching the children play, I noticed that they genuinely loved each other as if they were all brothers and sisters. They teased each other like siblings too, not worried too much about hurting each others' feelings and therefore also not taking things too personally. I compared their interactions with the way I was raised...
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