Week 11: Yeah I'm Doing This on Thanksgiving

Well technically I'm blogging on Black Friday since it's 1 in the morning now, but yeah I'm doing work on Thanksgiving; someone should give me a dedication medal. I have way too much on my plate right now and little motivation to start anything, so I'm taking this one step at a time. The easiest thing I can do right now is tell you about this past Monday's speaker, Tom Osbourne--the emeritus civic engagement deacon guy.

I was on the fence about the content of this, well for lack of a better word "informal lecture." Basically he talked to us about the same ideals we've been discussing all semester from a different perspective. Dr. Osbourne first addressed the idea of reluctance to us when it comes to civic service. He told us that he had been pushed into doing volunteer work his whole life, which goes to show you that reluctance to do community service is human nature. He told us that we won't lose the reluctance, but if we volunteer enough we can learn to overcome it. I can believe that.

Here's where I started to diverge. Dr. Osbourne is/was a deacon of an Episcopal church; their job is to serve as a mediator between the church and the rest of the world. One way he fulfills this job is by doing prison ministry (the name of the program is called Kairos [which means special time]). In this prison ministry program the ministry spend three days with prisoners and nurture them. Dr. Osbourne labels he and his ministry buddies "Kairos Junkies" because of the rush and transformation they get from the experience.

Here's my problem; I heard way too much emphasis being put on how great the server feels when performing service. I don't really want to hear that. I'd much rather hear emphasis on how those being served feel. With the theme of Thanksgiving in mind I feel right now that I have so much to be thankful for already. I don't wish to flip the idea of community service to an angle which puts my own personal gain at the forefront. I like the idea of performing community service because it fulfills something in others, no matter how small that may be, because that seems much more significant than what I get out of it. It's kind of a humility-themed profession.

Anyways that's my spiel. I didn't know spiel was an actual word, but I'm not getting the red squiggly underline that misspelled words get on word documents. Cool.

Here's something I made....watch it

Bye Bye.

Week 10: Things Blur Together

I was told once that when you study something from multiple sources to the point where everything starts to sound exactly the same, only then have you fully educated yourself. So ten weeks of honors forum have passed and things are starting to blur together.

Of course it's not like I haven't been educated on things such as community service and its significance in the past; I'm just noting key concepts that each speaker is telling me week after week. Having said that let me tell you what Immediate Past President of Rotary Club John Rusevlyan talked about last Monday.

The first thing he pointed out was that he did not yell at us. I don't remember the context of that comment exactly, but it was the first thing I wrote down in my notes. I guess that means he's a nice guy. He talked a little bit about colleges transitioning into Division 1, and how it results in higher expectations all across the board (whether that be in academia, athletics, and community service). Yes community service is important (1st concept that's blurring together).

I went to Einstein Bros. to get a cup of soup and they were out. I was very upset. I think this was fate reminding me that I should finish my volunteer hours...perhaps I could work at a soup kitchen.

So Mr. Rusevlyan then went on to talk about Rotary Club; It was started in 1905 by Paul Harris. He created it so men could gather for fellowship, and thus the world's first service club was born. Today there are over 33,000 clubs in over 200 countries. The club's responsibilities include sustaining and increasing membership, participating in service projects, supporting the rotary foundation financially, and developing leaders capable of serving beyond club level. The object of Rotary is to encourage success, high ethical standards in professions, application of service ideals in personal business and community life, and the advancement of international understanding, goodwill, and peace (everybody get along and better themselves = 2nd concept that's blurring together)

The local Rotary club here in the Shoals area are investing in a project called Shoals Scholar Dollars, where every high school student in Colbert/Lauderdale County with a 2.5 GPA and a sunny disposition get 2 years of paid tuition at Northwest Shoals Community College. I think they should raise that GPA personally if they want to achieve something like that, maybe at least to 3.0 Oh well.

The last thing Mr. Rusevlyan told us was to answer 4 questions before we thing, say, or do anything.
1) Is it true?
2) Is it fair?
3) Will it build goodwill and friendships?
4) Is it beneficial to all concerned?

One thing I've learned is that you can't always answer those four questions they way they should ideally be answered. But that's life

TWELVE FOOT NINJA'S NEW ALBUM CAME OUT!! :-D

Bye Bye.