As grand as the inaugural was a few days ago, it was only the beginning. It’s time to roll our sleeves up and get to work. Yes, I said OUR sleeves.
Michelle Obama as called us to volunteer action. This is a very strong, positive directive for of us. First, and most obvious is the fact that we are in dire times, when human needs are great for everything from food to clothes, jobs, education, etc., anything we can do is probably not enough, but is certainly better than sitting by and doing nothing.
There is also a lot to be said for building community. We tend to live in a society where we barely know the neighbors on either side of us, much less down the street. Just maybe, if we knew our neighbors a little better, we could be less afraid to walk down our streets at night. Maybe we’d know who to call when we need something ourselves. Maybe we could just feel better about this small piece of the planet we inhabit.
Beyond all this, I think is the internal benefit there is in doing something, just because it is good and right. Many of us will say I barely can keep food on my on table, keep my job, or keep my own kids out of trouble. And that might be true. Times are tight and we are stressed. But when we are able to reach out of own little corners and actually do something for someone else, no matter how small or who that someone is, we have stretched ourselves into bigger, finer persons. And we have added another drop of sweetener on this thing called humanity.
