Young people must be taught to give and expect nothing back

FRIDAY, MARCH 9: Getting young people to do for others is a difficult task.

Getting them to do for others without expectation of a financial or other reward is almost impossible.

Young people by nature are self-centered and the needs of others are oftentimes toward the bottom of their list of priorities, if on that list at all.

How do we get young people to do more within their community and to help them understand how the service they provide can not only benefit them, but benefit others?

As I write this article, I can’t help reflecting upon the years that my students at my former school, Star Academy, engaged in community service and the benefits they received from it.

Self-worth

Each Friday they would leave school at 12 noon to spend a couple hours at a local establishment to learn more about the business and to help out.  Whether that business was a day care facility, a restaurant, a retail store, a pet care facility, a landscaping company or a hair salon, just to name a few, the end result was always the same: each student saw the importance of his or her worth.

Everything that each student did helped that student to understand that they contributed greatly to the respective business.

While for some, community service provided an avenue to engage in a new experience they might have never otherwise had, some had their minds expanded to new options for career choices having had the exposure, and today the youngest of my students, only twelve years old, is well on his way to a career of becoming a chef as a result.

The same restaurant in which he did his community service has continued to groom him to learn and progress in his area of future career choice.

Young people must be taught to give and to expect nothing in return when it comes to community service.

Giving helps instill in them a sense of accomplishment by allowing them to see the end result of something they have done while making another human being happy.

Giving helps them to shift their self-centered attitude toward service to others.

It also helps them to better appreciate that sometimes in the proverbial ‘real world’ they will not always be rewarded for going the extra mile but may instead receive recognition for what they’ve done in the wider community which may in turn open doors of opportunities for them in the future.

Adults must teach young people, through example, that in order to help make the community in which they live a better and more harmonious place to be, whether it is locally or even perhaps overseas in school, they should voluntarily contribute.

These contributions start within the home with simple tasks such as washing dishes and cleaning their bedrooms and expand  to the broader community such as picking up trash in our neighbourhoods, volunteering at various charities which in turn help all community members in need and visiting with and sharing quality time with our seniors.

These are just a few examples. None should be financially or otherwise rewarded.

On Monday, March 12, on Generations radio show I will be speaking with and about young people who are doing their best to make their community a better place either by volunteering their services or doing positive things that they enjoy as they go about making their communities a better place.

• Shawnette Somner is the host of Generations, which airs on DeFontes’ Broadcasting Company’s 1450AM Gold, 7.30pm-9pm every Monday. Call in live during the show on 295-1450.

Please note the e-mail address has changed. Send comments and show ideas to the new e-mail address [email protected] Call in live during the show on 2951450.