Community Involvement

1.    Loeb suggests parents set models of community involvement or withdrawal for their children. What models would you like to exemplify for your children?

I want to set an example for my children that involvement in the community is EXPECTED of them. Wow, this really touches a never with me this week. There is an online magazine that I read, it’s called Clutch. It is targeted towards African American women. Over the past few weeks of reading the different articles and blogs, the idea of commitment to one’s community has been discussed several times. After reading one article in particular, a comment was made by a reader. She shared that she feels no commitment to anyone or any community, least of all her Black community. She reasoned that unless an individual was directly related to her, a close friend or boyfriend, she felt that she was not obligated to them and vice versa. That really bothered me!

          I strongly feel that we have an obligation to our communities. Whether this be your neighborhood, church, school, nation, etc., I feel that if we are not involved in our community and helping others to make a difference then how can we expect to live in the comforts that we have become accustomed to? Someone out there is helping us or doing something for us so that we can continue to live our lives. Someone is making sure that the water pumps are working so we can take a shower in the morning. Someone is cleaning the streets so that our neighborhoods look nice. Someone else making the clothes that we wear each day. When one of these things is not done or is not being done well, we see the effects of this.  How can we just sit aside and not attempt to make a difference then?

        I am currently not the most active person in my own community. Moving to a new area and trying balance graduate school has been really difficult for me. The adjustment has taken its toll on me in many ways, and my lack of involvement has been one area that was affected. At my undergraduate institution on the other hand, I was very involved and active in my campus community. As I reflect, I remember one day when one of my student organizations picked up trash in a neighborhood close to the school. At first, I was not looking forward to the experience. We were volunteering and had to get up really early in the morning, which I hate to do. But the experience was overall very interesting. I saw a friend of mine who was not involved in our organization, but he decided to help us anyways. I had some really interesting conversations with the members of our organization that day and learned some things about them that I may not have learned otherwise. One person even told us thank you for cleaning up the area. I didn’t realize the benefits that would come along with using one Saturday morning to pick up trash.

        I think that I want my children to realize that their involvement in the community is important and will actually impact someone, whether or not they are aware of it at that moment. I hope that I will not only be actively involved in my community but that my children will also be involved right along with me so that they can see my actions as well as hear my words.