I have found service to be a significant part of a meaningful life. As author David Foster Wallace noted in his famous commencement address This is Water, we are all the centers of our own universe. We cannot help this, but it often makes us the source of our own unhappiness: an old Asian proverb goes, “the mind is a great servant but a terrible master.” Service is a helpful and important way by which to recontextualize our internal perspective away from the selfish, to work for the sake of good and for others, and to look for purpose in life. Some people are blessed enough to find inherent worth in life, though so much more can be found when you turn outward instead of inward with not only your thoughts but your acts.
Service can take many forms for many people. It is my opinion that if you are doing service because you are told it is good, because you want to look good in the eyes of others, you are doing it wrong. Service, however, does not necessarily mean volunteering for an organization or event or picking up trash alongside the road. All forms, magnitudes, and levels of service are important, but it is important to learn how to take leadership and initiative to help others. This can be as simple as deciding you want to volunteer or clean trash, but can extend to things such as starting your own organization or organizing volunteers/service for a cause that has yet to be addressed. Personally, I have found that joining a service organization on campus was the way to go for me; I in fact chair a volunteering project for White Bird Appaloosa Rescue in Burkeville, Virginia. All people are different, and many serve daily without the constructs of an organization or group. However, I find that service is an important source of happiness and fulfillment in my life and I recommend it to others.