I Served.

Due to a phone request from W, I have shaken off my lethargy to write a post and share with you my unique and utterly incontrovertible viewpoints on life.

Actually, it's unfair of me to call myself lethargic for not posting recently.  In truth, I have been very active this past week.  Last Saturday I traveled down to Gulfport, Mississippi to take part in the annual Americorps Build-a-Thon.  In case you missed it, they had a hurricane down there a while ago called Katrina that caused quite a bit of damage.  The prognosis is not good.  Thousands of homes destroyed or uninhabitable, thousands of people displaced, and dollars untold in damage. 
Rebuilding is not an option, obviously.  It is a mandate.  But this is made difficult because of the sheer amount of work to be done.  Further, this is a great opportunity for contractors because of the high demand for their services.  But where are they going to work?  Where the money is, of course, and that is not in the hands of people who couldn't afford decent homes before Katrina.  So what's the answer?
The answer, dear friends, is good old American volunteerism.  This past week I was engaged in one of the most-needed ongoing volunteer efforts in the country.  Thousands of people from all walks of life have passed through Louisiana, Mississippi, et al. and donated their time and talents to help those who through misfortune and circumstance are unable to afford a decent place to live.  That's what Americans do when they see their countrymen knocked about...it's a hand up, not a handout, in case there were any doubts about how I could support something like this with my conservative leanings.  Helping people who need it goes beyond politics and into the realm of human obligation.
As part of my service in Americorps (which is kind of like Peace Corps for America [Also, strangely, a suggestion from W as I floundered about following graduation last year]) I have been involved with Habitat for Humanity as a Volunteer and Construction Coordinator.  It's rewarding work, but also draining.  This week was a welcome vacation from the familiar sites of my own affiliate. 
The goal for the past week was to build 20 houses.  With 600 people from all over the country, it went much better than I thought it would.  My team completed our house, as did our neighbor.  Most other houses got through to finishing the tar-paper and siding.  It was something to see, and I was filled with an intense satisfaction and happiness that I have felt very few times in my life. 
I thought a lot this week on what my service means to me.  I came to a couple interesting conclusions.  Firstly, I think it's important for people to engage in some sort of service in order to understand better the human condition.  It's not just about a bullet on the resume or appeasing your own vanity.  That's key.  What I did this week was help someone I've never met or spoken to in my life, and who I will most likely never see again.  I did it for no other reason than to help.  I get nothing from it in terms of material compensation.  I think that the central aspect to this service is that I diminished myself and served a larger, nobler purpose.  It was not in the slightest about me, though there were many thanks and much appreciation from the homeowners.  It's good for somebody like me, who suffers from his fair share of vanity.
A second point I made to myself, and which we share with you, is the sincere camaraderie that developed between those of us working towards this common goal.  We were all there to serve this Good Thing and our politics or religion or race or social class didn't matter at all.  The feeling for me was overwhelmingly positive and I know that in years to come I will look back fondly on the people with whom I served.  I hope they shall do the same.
Thinking about the week, the service, and the difference I helped make overwhelms me somewhat.  I am glad this is not a speech or my voice would perhaps start to hitch.  At the beginning of my service I thought it was all cotton-candy nonsense when people would get choked up about this, but I understand better now.  It's so huge, and to be a part of it is so deeply fulfilling.  I'm not sure if I could have understood it without doing it.
From the article:

George Sauls said he was shocked at how many people wanted to help his and other families on the Coast.

"All these people giving their time and their lives, it was totally out of my realm of belief," said Sauls. "I didn't know there were that many people in the world like that."