service
I have been thinking about service and its role in my life. I feel like I should do more to be a part of the greater community that is the u.s.a. WHat have I done lately? nothing at all. I answer honestly. I want to serve my country, but the idea of being in the military strikes me as singularly ridiculous. What could be more anti-ethical than using the cold end of a bullet to make the world a better place. There ought to be other options, and there are. The peace corps is always there. I always end up thinking about the peace corps.
What if Service were a required aspect of american life? The most compelling argument I have heard comes from Charles Rangel who thinks that if there were rich white kids in the rank and file of the military there would be much less eagerness on the part of rich white men to send the rank and file into harms way. Obviously it is an indirect way of potentially reducing the number of conflicts that we become involved in, but it does seem to be an effective way. I think that I would welcome mandatory military service if I knew that EVERYONE was bound and obligated by law to do so. The only problem is that there is no way on earth that the rich white kids would not figure out a way to duck their responsibility. I know that I, if faced with a draft, would do everything in my power to avoid it. Still I feel that citizenship and community ought to mean more than they currently mean to me. I feel like I need to invest myself in it in some form or another. wtf I really want to invest in being Canadian, but failing that I need to do something around here. Humm, we’ll see.