Even though I was asked only recently, I've heard this question countless times: "Why would you want to serve people? You spend your time on it, you deal with stress, and sometimes people don't even appreciate you. You don't get paid---sometimes you even pay out of your own pocket. Why???"
I answer, "Because for so long, I lived without noticing. I took for granted the service I received every single day---the teacher who stayed late to help me understand, the workers who cleaned up the road even when they were tired, the stranger who gave directions when I was lost. I never thought about how many hearts, hands, and hours went into those acts. I treated them like transactions, nothing more.
I appreciate doctors---deeply. In fact, one of my students is a doctor, and another is studying in medical school. I think of the unknown teachers who would correct their students, even if it meant stepping out of their comfort zone to be involved in their lives. I think of the people who quietly allocate their time to serve others, even at their own expense. These are not just jobs---they're acts of love disguised as daily routines. I know people who take in foster children and provide them with decent lives; I know how my teenage students tried to raise funds during the pandemic; I know how a student I taught >10 years ago, now as an adult, routinely does social work; I know a student who's in Canada now and is involved with many social crowdfunding in Indonesia
I want to emphasize this especially to my young students that we should do this because we want to educate them as well. We invest in people and hopefully we can all keep the good things for years to come, not only for our children, but many people. When we close our doors to people, we, directly or indirectly, will somehow have doors shut in our face.
Once I stepped into the world of service myself, I realized the truth: service is not about counting what you lose, but about multiplying what you give. It's about keeping the light burning for someone else, even if they don't know your name. I serve because I want to make sure that light never goes out. I serve to plant seeds---seeds that will grow into trees of kindness, sheltering people I may never meet. And maybe, just maybe, one day they'll pass that light on to someone else. That's why I serve."
I will end this article with a poem that hopefully resonates with more people.
Each morning comes a little slower now,
my hands not as steady as they once were,
the mirror shows what my heart already knows---
time is cutting its quiet path through me.
I feel the weight of lessons yet unspoken,
the young faces still waiting for light,
the lost ones wandering into darker rooms
while my own lamp flickers in the wind.
My body is deteriorating---
the bones complain, the breath shortens,
and I know this rhythm cannot go on forever.
There will come a day when my voice falters,
when the pen slips from my grasp,
when my stories are sealed inside me.
So I hurry now,
not from ambition,
but from love for the work that remains.
I cannot waste the hours---
they are the coins I spend
on shaping minds,
on turning hearts toward the right road.
If I have only a handful left,
then let them be poured out
like water into thirsty ground.
When I am gone,
I hope they will remember
that I tried---
even while the clock pressed in,
even while the body gave way,
I tried.
