Deke Bowman
Guest Columnist
October 22, 2004
Not what can be done for me but what can I do for ______.
After coming back to my room from Quillen lobby from watching the third
presidential debate, angry about not getting answers to the questions that “I”
have posed and wondering if my opinion matters in this national race, I was
interrogated by my roommate. He simply asked how it might be different today if
we offered solutions to problems that we thought existed rather that offering
problems and expecting solutions.
This issue is something that is not news to me. Being involved in SGA here at
Milligan, it is no surprise that the general population of any community is
willing to gripe about all wrong things yet willing to offer few solutions to
these apparent problems. I found myself doing the same thing I have been so
frustrated with.
The question from my roommate still remains: what can I do for my country, not
what my country can do for me. My roommate was originally referring to context
of the church. We often look at what the church is offering us rather than what
we can offer to the church. We show great concern with how much we get rather
than how much we may offer to the kingdom of God.
Let us look at what we can do. I have a problem when, in the presidential
debates, the candidates talk in circles, answering questions with constant
references to this plan or that plan, and all the while watching it, I get more
frustrated. My roommate is still asking what I can do as part of the solution
rather than just griping and being part of the problem.
I am still asking how much my voice matters in our national government. I have a
vote, that is true, but all that vote really does is speak to a group of
electors to tell them who I think will do the better job in the presidency.
There has to be more.
I look back to the comparison with the church. What can we, the church, do to
positively affect society to improve all those things that we say are bad in our
nation? No, I am not saying that the church get involved in politics, but I am
suggesting that we act as the church should act to improve the kingdom.
If we see problems in education, as the church, should we offer solutions to
help education by volunteering in the schools, acting as aids for our educators?
If we see problems in the food pantries or shelters should we, as the church,
feed those who are hungry and offer shelter to those without. Not to say that
the church doesn’t do this, but what if all of those who are a part of the
church were invested in these efforts.
Healthcare, education, social security, jobs, taxes and the list can go on and
on. We can ask questions and we expect a swift, accurate answer that happens to
be the best and right answer for everyone. Yet, the only thing we do is praise
and gripe. We offer no other options to help solve the problems at hand. Where
do society’s responsibilities lay, and why are we not acting on them? Is there
a place for us to help?
The question of healthcare and dealing with the poor and issues with education;
what assistance can the church offer to society? We go all over the world
offering all of those things to many other cultures and rightly so; we are
called to do this. Just the same, we are called to do it here at home as well.
Jesus himself worked to help society and bring people to the truth from the
ground up. He dealt with high officials, but he mostly dealt with those in need
at home.
As we examine the question of how we can offer solutions or how we can serve our
country rather than our country serving us, let us look at the social structure
and how our society is set up so that those who have may help those who do not.
Are we doing that?
As I criticize policy I should ask myself what am I doing to positively affect a
change so that maybe the policy to fix will be more affective or possibly fixing
the problem within ourselves as self governing citizens of our great nation.
Let us look back on the cold winter day and ponder when President John F.
Kennedy said, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for
your country.”
What did he mean and shouldn’t we be asking that of ourselves and our society
going into this election and going into the future of our country regardless of
who is in office