The Spirit of Service

One of the things I like best about President Obama is that he means what he says. Many politicians will say things or change their position on issues simply to get votes. Obama isn't like that. Obama displays a personal characteristic common to the greatest of leaders: integrity.

Obama won the election by promising the average American that they would have a voice and a role in his government. To see how effective this message was, all one had to do was turn on the television on Tuesday morning and look at the huge crowd that turned out for his inauguration.


It is said that 3 million people visited Washington DC for this event. Many had no tickets and no place to stay. Some people drove 90 hours just to be there.

In his speech, Obama constantly emphasized his belief in a government "Of the people, by the people, for the people". He did this in a subtle but significant way. Instead of a speech full of the word "I", he used the word "we". In fact, in his speech, Obama used the word "we" 61 times.

Obama's speech was also full of words like "responsibility", "honesty", "loyalty", "humility" and "generosity". These are all traits of persons of strong character. By mentioning these traits, President Obama was telling us how important they were and asked us to develop them, in ourselves and in others. If we can, once again, became a nation of strong character, Obama says, America can regain the worldwide respect it once had, and once again set an example for the world to follow.

One of the ways to accomplish this is through what the president calls "the spirit of service". It was this spirit, the idea of doing or creating something for the good of all mankind, that made America great. Instead of going through life thinking only of ourselves, Obama asks that we reach out and volunteer to help others succeed.

Obama's first call for volunteer service took place before he took office. He asked the nation to turn Martin Luther King day into a day of service. People responded in overwhelming numbers. War veterans who turned up for food drives were so surprised at the number of volunteers who showed to help that they wept. This is one small example of the power of the people.

Volunteer organizations that help our communities, nation and world can be seen everywhere.

The Peace Corps,


Americorps,


Greenpeace,


Boy Scouts


Girl Scouts,


CYO


and our PTA

are all staffed with volunteers. Without volunteers, the United States might not even exist, for the soldiers who fought for America's freedom during the Revolutionary War were all volunteers.


At Park School, we encourage the spirit of service, too. By volunteering for, and serving on, Green Team, Student Council or as a Peaceful Playgrounds Coach,


you are helping make Park School a great place to be. Your contributions as volunteers are very valuable to the school and can be very personally rewarding. We hope that your experience as a volunteer at Park will encourage you to volunteer for good causes for the rest of your life. This will make our community, our nation and the world a better place.