Blog Post 2

After working at my service placement for two weeks, I feel like I have gotten a new perspective on the definition of the word “service.” I used to define service as something you do to help someone else. However, due to my research topic, I feel like my definition has broadened. My topic is about social protection, and through the literature review process that I have been conducting during the past two weeks, I have come across many organizations (usually NGOs) which are completing various service projects to ensure social protection and social security for vulnerable populations, such as women and children living in poverty. Reading about some of the amazing work that these organizations do, inspired me and made me realize that service is not necessarily an individual thing. It can also be a largely coordinated and organized effort to help a group of people. This realization seems obvious, but when you actually see it in action, it changes your perspective on what service can mean.

There are many things that motivate me to serve. They range from my own personal learning goals to something as broad as the disparities in healthcare which exist in the world. Although it’s kind of selfish, I think that one of the biggest motivators for me to serve is my own desire to complete my goals and gain new experiences. Serving and completing service projects (in various forms) can give you such amazing and unique experiences. You usually end up meeting people so different from yourself and widening your worldview. This is one of my favorite parts of service: the learning aspect of it. While you may think that you are helping someone and changing their life, it could, in fact, be the complete opposite. In a more broad and serious sense, one of the other biggest motivators which makes me want to serve is the extreme disparities in healthcare, especially maternal and child health services, which exists in the world. This is an issue which I am extremely passionate about, and a problem which motivates me complete service and research projects in areas related to this issue. I have seen and experienced this problem firsthand, having had family members in India pass away due to complications during pregnancy and birth which would be easily avoided in the US due to the timely access to medical care. Having these experiences and memories motivate me to study in school so that one day I will be truly prepared to serve underserved populations around the globe.

I personally do not think it’s possible to measure success in service. In fact, I think it’s wrong to be measuring success in service. To me service is something so pure and good, that it seems cruel and harsh to measure it. One thing I hated in high school was the mandatory community service hours we had to put in before graduation. I despised this requirement because it made students just do community service for the sake of completing the requirement and not because they cared about the issue they were working for. They were literally measuring their success on a timesheet, and not caring about the impact they were having on the populations they were working with. Now, I’m not saying I’m not guilty of this sentiment. There were times I completed service projects to put it on my timesheet or to fulfill requirements for various clubs. However, there were a few projects which I was especially passionate about and which I did because I wanted to; not because I had to. To me, service, regardless of what it is, is successful as long as the deed comes from good and pure intentions. I don’t believe that this success can be measured. I feel like any service is equally successful as long as people are doing it out of the goodness of their heart.