Hey guys! Today's post is mostly going to be me briefly reflecting on such thing as the act of service- and not in the typical love language that we all know. My life thus far has been pretty mundane, it requires not much of me nor I of it. It goes to show how little I am required in general of service to others, and how detached from others I choose to remain. Kinda some melodrama there, but you know how I be.
I mean, what does it even mean by an experience of where you were of service to another? Do all the small things such as holding open the door, washing the dishes, loaning someone a pen, all count? Does being of service mean something that it’s a constant action (like being a doorman) or a one-in-a-while, didn’t-even-think-about-it kinda thing? I mean, one could argue that being a parent is a constant service that provides without the expectation that they will ever receive any compensation back, although perhaps many think that their efforts might one day be reciprocated. So anything I’ve ever done to help my mom basically doesn’t count because its all just reciprocation anyways.
Being of service to something; a person, a group, a community, a cause or a belief which means that you've chosen to engage without expectation of reciprocation.
Have I ever been of service to somebody? To the world?
I guess in general I have been of (basic) service to society; I round up my merchandise cost as a charity donation, pick up used fishing line if I find it one the shoreline, pick up the things that older people have dropped in the aisle. But I donno, it seems all rather… insignificant. Maybe I’m not financially of service because I myself believe that I’m just trying to survive, and maybe that makes me selfish- clearly NOT very service-y of me.
But that doesn’t excuse the things that don’t require money; volunteering, providing my notes for accessibility students, throwing out that abandoned Tim’s coffee cup. I think that being of service to people or society at large just isn’t something that we’re super used to PERIOD, but even then, the actions that satisfy as being of service (like some of those seemingly small, incidental actions from above) even register as being important.
Much like the parental example from above, do relationships count? If one does acts of service (the total love language that we all know) to another without expecting anything back- it counts. But say they’re secretly hoping that the other person reciprocates it in another way, the service is done with the expectation that they will be rewarded. BTWS this tooootally is not the way to go- been burned by that expectation before *cue sad music here*
Despite the problem with using relationships to display service, its one of the only examples I’ve got, and its kinda ugly. There is definitely no Disney ending here. I won’t delve toooo too deeply into the whole thing, but keep in mind that this isn’t a happy story with a happy ending.
So. I don’t know if that counts as being of service to someone, but that was hands down one of the hardest years of my life. Looking back, it was shocking how quickly things changed and horrible things just kept coming. I relinquished my service to save myself, but I’ve always wondered at what cost?
Maybe the technical definition of service says one thing, but maybe its wrong. Maybe it doesn’t matter if you help your mom back by running out to grab her milk, or by seeing something in Winners and buying it for your partner, maybe just being a good person and continuing to do acts of service- whatever the impact- is good enough.
Commenti