The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others

-Mahama Gandhi

As I read the readings I could not help but feel frustrated at Illich’s, To Hell with Good Intentions and Morton’s Starfish Hurling and Community Service. However, (and I say this with being convinced very little) these readings do hold some truth to them. Illich is right when he talks about being these American “salesmen” and that we believe everyone should have the same values as us, be just as educated and be up to date with the latest technology. Always moving forward, fast and efficient and if we come across someone that is not up to these standards, they are not on our level. Illich is also right about not being able to meet the majority which we “pretend to serve” because we (as Americans) do not speak the language or for whatever reason we will not have a common ground to understand each other. This is where I drew the line and this is where I had to take a break and take out my frustration with Illich’s negativity and work out. I believe in the tiniest degree, that he is right. Perhaps coming into their village can create a culture shock and perhaps even disorder, but the act of helping or doing work for others willingly in any culture I believe… is sincere and noble.    

            Perhaps I have such a hard time understanding Illich’s view because I believe that we do have a common ground, we are all human beings. We are all the same on the inside. We are all made up of cells, tissues, organs, organ systems... And so on. We all have a beating heart that allows us to feel emotions that drive our very existence. Relationships are universal and no you cannot generalize all Americans and think that we will “try to convince Mexican girls that they should marry a young man who is self-made, rich, a consumer, and as disrespectful of tradition as one of you”. As a Mexican young woman, I do not need convincing to choose who to marry, nor does anyone for that matter.

When it comes down to service, the relationships that you form are with those you are serving and those that are being served. Perhaps it is just my own experience, but I feel a deeper, silent relationship with those who I went to Honduras with. By silent I mean words do not need to be spoken because we know what we saw and how it impacted us. Any kind of event or experience as intense or emotionally based that you share with someone stays with you. The same goes with those you helped serve. We don’t know the impact or how they felt about us coming into their village, but what I do know is that none of them spat in my face, none of them laughed at me and none of them rejected my help. All of them wanted to be helped and all of them showed great gratitude for me doing something that was not even that big of a deal. The children that I helped and played with were over joyed and they even remembered my name and the names of other brigaders. Some of the little girls wrote love notes to them and expressed how happy they were that they came to help. Other adults hugged us, how is this not on the same common ground? When we are in need of help and are open to it there will always be a common ground that we can share. If anything, history has shown us that by small acts of bravery and hope we can start something and that can snowball into something even bigger.

Morton shares a somewhat similar view as Illich when he explains that we can disrupt the starfish by throwing them back into the water because of some ecological process going on. The same as coming into a village and creating disorder and culture shock for the villagers. I do agree that we should not come in and try to change the people of any community we try to help, who are we to say what they are doing is right or wrong? However, I believe that we can help them and guide them if and only if they want help. The saying “we can’t help those who don’t want to help themselves” is something we need to realize because not everyone is going to want help and if we try to force ourselves to help them, we will get” spat on” and “laughed at” and even hit, just as Illich says. The power of being able to go and help a community or village can start a change if used in the right way; it can have lasting effects that better the situations of those who need our help.

            Abraham Lincoln said, “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power”. Power is a very dangerous thing to play with and put in the wrong hands of someone can have damaging consequences. The mistake sometimes we make as volunteers going into a village that needs help is the way we think we know everything and they know nothing. Just because they do not have the same education we do does not mean we are above them in any way, it just means we have been fortunate and lucky. I can see this becoming a big problem if someone who thought of themselves as better than the rest were to generalize and assume that those who are in need chose the circumstances they are living in. Morton’s other article, The Irony of Service touches upon this, “More service agencies are responding to social, economic and health problems as character deficits in the individuals experiencing the problems as opposed to consequences of the social system issues”. No one in their right mind would choose to live a hard, unfair life if they had the choice; it is a mistake to think that they are to blame for their economic status and their misfortunes. Power used to change this economic status is what we must do. Don’t change the poor but change the powers that marginalize them is how we can use such great power as a positive tool. This is the only way we will be able to help them so they can help themselves as well.

            Many villagers in Honduras came up to me after to tell me it was an honor meeting us and being helped by so many young students. They were very humble and shy; eye contact was not used very much because they kept looking at the floor or somewhere else. All I could think about was, “maybe they did not expect our kindness? Maybe they really did think we were stuck up Americans…” but I was glad that we did not make them feel that way and that they felt somewhat special that we came to help them. In the end as we were packing up to go, I felt honored and privileged to have met such wonderful and resilient people. I felt lucky that they had let me in their community and share with them this experience. As Nye helped the lady that was crying in the airport by comforting her and speaking her own language, I felt I had helped and comforted them in their own language. It was an honor to serve them and share that experience with them and it gives me hope for the future because by small acts and paying it forward, we can make a difference one day.