Hello all! I have finally returned to the world of blogging after an unnecessary amount of time away from it. The first thing that you will notice is the change in the name of my blog, which was originally "The Musings of a Muse." Why the change? Well, because I needed a change, though the need for change is not the biggest motivator. I have always seen myself as a person with a wild imagination and I have never really felt like a muse and I have probably never been someone's muse, which in my mind, disqualifies me from even calling myself one. Plus, when I went to Google and searched "The Musings of a Muse," what I found was a make-up company. I really don't like make-up. Well, I guess I should say that I don't like to take the time to actually wear make-up. Don't get me wrong, make-up is really fun to play with and it's fun to see all the different ways I can change my style with just a single stroke of eye-liner or by applying blush a certain way, but it doesn't bring me the same kind of joy that it brings to other women. I don't mind wearing make-up, but to some degree, I experience a little bit of dread when I think of wearing make-up on a regular basis and having to take the time to do so. This dread is probably what led to my not wanting my blog to be associated with make-up. And I don't want to get sued by a company who could probably put me in debt for five lifetimes and seven eternities for using their company's name for my personal blog. So there you go.
Now for the real reason for my sitting at a computer and wasting precious time:
Starting this month, I will be volunteering a few hours a week as a receptionist at the Albuquerque Center for Peace & Justice. Yes, I said it, volunteer receptionist. I can hear everyone thinking to themselves, "But you hate desk jobs! And you aren't getting paid!" Yeah, I know. I also know that I need to give myself something to do that is not centered around me, but is something that is meaningful and educational. When I say educational, I don't mean it in the sense of sitting in the classroom of a college or university and making my GPA and official transcripts look amazing, though mine do need some improvement (but in the same breath, they're not as bad as they once were), I mean it in the sense being educated in social justice/humanitarian violations and how to go about bringing change to the world in a way that will help put an end to said violations. I want that education to be something that I use to not only educate others, but to encourage them to bring about change as well.
A big thing that I think is real nifty (yes, I said nifty) about this whole situation is that the Center for Peace and Justice is in a part of town that really needs the love of Christ: the university area. The Center is located on the corner of Harvard and Silver, which is just one block south of the University of New Mexico, and is easily accessible to anyone who is involved with social justice issues, anyone who is curious about social justice issues, college students, old people, in between people, and bums. Yes, bums. Bums as in homeless people. Mom, please don't scold me. Here's the link to their website if you're a bit curious:
http://abqpeaceandjustice.org/
Disclaimer: This is a very long post! Don't read this if you do not have the time!
Now, I have this feeling that most people are not really interested in creating "labels," or even think about creating "labels," for the different kinds of people who volunteer and/or do community service. Don't we have enough labels for people? Of course not! That's why I was thinking about these labels the whole way home from my algebra class (math doesn't hurt my brain like it use to, that's why I'm able to think clearly afterwards)! I came up with five basic categories of people involved in volunteerism/community service (please do realize that my perspective is a Christian one, so I will be writing as if this were a conversation to another Christian. I do not apologize for this.):
Category #1: The Religiously Obligated
I cannot speak on behalf of other religions, but I can speak on behalf of the Christian faith, so here's a little bit of background on Christianity's "social obligations." From the Old Testament, these obligations include things like taking care of the orphans, the widows, the foreigners, and the poor (Deuteronomy 10; Jeremiah 7 (Out of honesty and to give context, this chapter was written specifically to the nation of Israel and is about the covenant the Lord was making with them. I think that we can still learn from it.); Zechariah 7). The obligations from the Old Testament must be done hand in hand with the social obligations from the New Testament, which are to feed the hungry, give thirsty people a thirst quenching drink of water, give clothes to people who need clothes, house or find a housing situation for the stranger who needs a place to stay, visit the people who are sick, and visit the people who are in prison (Matthew 25:31-46). When we do these "social obligations" to and for other people, we're doing them to and for God.
The person who I am calling the "Religiously Obligated" is the person who volunteers and/or does community service because they have to do it and they have to do it because God told them to do it. This person serves with the bad attitude of "I don't want to do this, but I have to, so be grateful/thankful that I even showed up." But you know what? God also says that when it's appropriate, go live life with the stated people and live that life with these people with a glad and joyous heart and to sing songs of praise (living a joy filled life in an inappropriate way would be singing a happy song to a broken heart and making a grieving person do the happy dance. Totally not cool.). So the "Religiously Obligated" person needs to drop the legalistic, woe-is-me perspective, selfish bad attitude and allow God to open their eyes to see the true beauty in the people who live around them.
This person makes me want to tell them to stop being a jerk who is wanting to have a pity party and go to the Sandia mountains, find a field of wild flowers, and run through it with a young person who has never been to the mountains before and see the joy of a new experience flash across that young person's face.
Category #2: The Better Community Builder
In the eyes of those involved in the grassroots social justice scene, this person is the ideal person, perfection personified. In the "Non-Christian" community (in my mind, this is the everyday community that is not influenced by Christians in any way), this person is ideal because they love their community, they're involved in their community, and they're trying to find ways to improve their community. This is the person who others look up to because the "Better Community Builder" is the one who is trying to find ways to get after-school tutoring programs and before/after school meal programs in place the low(er) income communities; they're trying to open safer parks so that young people can have a safe place to play sports in low(er) income communities; they're trying to open medical clinics in the low(er) income communities, along with many other things. This person sees all of the horrible things happening in the world, this person truly cares about the world, they have a passion and desire to see positive change occur in this world, and they are working doggedly to do something to bring about that positive change.
This is the person who makes me want to go plant a tree or build a well for a poor community or something.
Now, I don't want to bash Christians as a whole, but it's heartbreaking to see how a good number of Christians tend to flock with only each other and not do everything that God says to do in the sense of not only helping people, but helping people who are "different," people are not the same as them and do not have the same thought process, beliefs, and way of life. If the Category #2 person was a prominent leader in the Christian community (by the grace of God, we do have some people like this, but the Christian community desperately needs more of Category #2 people leading, serving, living among us to help kick us out of our little Christian bubble and into reality), this person would be causing people to say, "That Christian dude is whippin' our butts in making the world a better place. I want what they've got." This is where the next category comes in.
Category #3: The (Good) Hybrid
This is ther person who is a gloriously good combination of Category #1 and #2. This person is someone who has a strong Christian faith and who voluntees and/or does community service because they desire to follow and obey the word of God. This person lives the word of God, and by living the word of God, they serving their commnity not because they feel obligated like Category #1, but because they desire what God desires, and some of the things that God desires are social justice and social involvement. A person who is under Category #3 does not feel obligated like a #1, but takes the "social obligations that are required by God," gets rid of the bad attitude and turns these obligations into being the love of God to the community. When this is done, and sometimes a person has to "fake it till they make it," the person slowly gains the ideals Category #2, which creates a Category #3 person.
This person (alongside of the work done by the Category #2 person) would become the destroyer of hunger, poverty, human trafficking, and pretty much every social injustice.
Sidenote:
Category #2 and Category #3 need to be careful and make sure to keep their egos in check because if they don't, it will be very easy to create more enemies than they already have. If #2 and #3 do not keep their egos in check, every single person who works with #2 and #3 will be more than willing to use stated egos as bullseyes for dart throwing practice. Don't let your ego get too big! This will defeat the purpose of all the good things you are doing!!!
Category #4: The Required Humanitarian
Ah yes, the "Required Humanitarian;" this is the person who is required to do community service. I cannot paint this picture with a wide brush because the situation of each person in this category is different, but they all have one thing in common: They have no way out of doing community service. As I said, each situation is different, so I will focus on the people who are required to serve due to eduactional obligations. In Albuquerque, I know that many private schools and charter schools require their students to work a certain amount of community service hours either by the end of a semester or by the end of a school year. Also, universities with honors programs also expect their students to be involved with their community through community service over the course of the students scholastic career. When a person is in the situation of requirement and not in the situation of choice, it can be a little bit harder to be passionate about the community service project the student is participating in, which could possibly lead to the student having a bad attitude about the whole experience, which can possibly lead to the student's parents not being happy with the situation because their child is not happy with it. If the required community service ever gets to the point of this last stage of "dissatisfaction" of the parent and child, I doubt (for the most part) the child/student is telling the parent(s) the full story as to why they're not happy.
Category #4.A
This first example is a student who is a completely spoiled and selfish child who will probably try to find every excuse possible to try to weasle out of doing community service and will probably only do the bare bones minimum hours required of them. This student probably has absolutely no desire to be involved with anyone who is not the student, "If you are not me, then why should I care about you?" The parents might argue in favor of the student and fight back so their child may not have to do community service because they don't want their child involved with "those kinds of people" and, possibly, because the family "does not have the time to do such nonsense." This student is acting like their parents because the parents are the primary models of action for the child/young person. These people need to get over themselves and lose the bad attitudes before someone slasps them for being selfish, egotistical, heartless snobs. If I came across this situation, I would try to tell the family to do the community service together. Why? Because this family has plenty of time. The parents have enough time to spend most of their time at work, the parents have enough time to go spend a couple hours at the gym and/or spa, the parents have enough time to argue with the school about whether or not their child should be doing community service. The child has enough time to be on social network sites like facebook and twitter, they have enough time to go to the movies, they have enough time to play video games. This family is reactive. They have the time, they're just spending that time elsewhere and not together as a family, let alone as a family that could create a lasting impact on its community.
Category #4.B
Then there is the student who is required to do community service, yet despite the "required" part, they find a way to be passionate about the community service, they try to find ways to be motivated about being involved with their community. They look up as many opportunites that not only fit into their schedules, but look for opportunities that they actually may be interested in. This student is proactive and involved in the community and they are this way because their parents are probably proactive and involved in the community. Depending on whether this person is a Christian or is not, they will either turn into a Category #2 person or a Category #3 person.
This young person is very impressive and should be applauded, though I think they should be careful because it would be easy for them to turn into a person in the final category.
Category #5: The Résumé Builder
Oh man, this is the person is going to try to find every possible community service/volunteer opportunity that is available. This person can either be a high school student who is required to do community service, a college student who is in the honors program at their university, or simply just a do-gooder. The only difference between this person and Categories #2, #3, and #4.B is that they are only serving others for the sake of making him/herself, and more importantly, their résumé, look absolutely amazing. Everyone and everything else is just a pawn on this person's chess board. Remember that sidenote about the ego earlier in this blog? This person is one of those people whose ego has become the bullseye for their peers' darts and they don't even realize it until someone's dart hits their ego and causes it to pop like a balloon.
This person was extremely impressive until their intentions and ambitions came out, then all of the respect I had for this person quickly evaporated. It is good to be ambitious and it is good to be involved, but people should never be used as pawns so that you may be able to succeed. In short, this person is a nice jerk, but a jerk all the same.
