“Service is the
rent we pay for living here on this Earth.”
-Shirley
Chisholm
If
you search for this quote, there’s a chance that you may find that it was said
by many people. The first to say it, I don’t know; the first time I heard it
said was by a woman named Tara Kenchen at a seminar for a nonprofit
organization that I interned with one summer. These words moved me in a way
that I never knew was possible. It was all understandable from that point on: this must be why everyone in the community
helped me and my family, I thought. I never knew why people were so nice to
us and always so willing to help when we were in need. When my mom past away,
so many organizations banded together to raise money and bring goods to me and
my sisters. They helped us with her funeral arrangements, brought us food and
school supplies, even gifts for the holidays that my mother wasn’t there to get
for us anymore. Those people all had families of their own to fend for, but it
was almost as if helping my family was another expense for them, in a way.
Granted, no one was obligated to help us with anything, but they did it because
they felt called to do so. These people were called by God to serve others.
The
author of this quote is playing on words and using simplicity in meaning at the
same time. She uses a comparison that is relatable. Everyone who has a home
knows what it means to have to pay rent. It’s a monetary trade in exchange for
housing. Well God does not worship money. What pleases him is seeing his
children do well and help others. He is the reason we are all here on this
Earth, so by helping others we are essentially paying God with service. For
some people it’s paying it forward to others, because someone once helped them
when they needed it. And then there’s
others; the ones that never had to struggle in their entire life, but they are
humble and full of humility. Even though no one has helped them because they’ve
never needed it, they still know what it means to give back to their community.
It’s an Americans civil duty and moral obligation.
This
has driven my career goal for my future after college. I plan to start a
nonprofit organization to help orphaned young women, and eventually branch out
to helping all youth. I want to help underprivileged youth see the same thing
that I learned at a young age; everyone needs a shoulder to lean on and someone
to pick them up when they’ve fallen. It’s one of the principles that our world
relies on and it also helped our country to get where it is today. People
weren’t afraid to stand up for one another. Two heads were always better than
one, and it’s important that the idea of service is planted into individuals at
a young age so that they can grow up and become activists in our rapidly
crumbling society.
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