临阵磨枪:AI034

dearjane · 发表于 2005-9-26 22:08:00

34. “All citizens should be required to perform a specified amount of public service. Such service would benefit not only the country as a whole but also the individual participants.”

There is much controversial about whether all citizens should be required to perform a specified amount of public service. While some people argue that such requirement will not only benefit the country but also do good to each participant, we could also find out that such policy may face many obstacles in the real world. I hold that the best choice for the government is to adopt certain measures to guide the mass to do more public services rather than to set up a mandatory system.

It is true that performing public service will benefit individual participants. According to psychologist Maslow, more and more people in the modern world are not only looking for career success and material benefits but also hoping to satisfy their self-actualization needs. Helping others or doing free services is a process of achieving one’s personal value in the society. When I was in school, I did about totally forty hours services in my community to help immigrated children every summer holiday. Doing these free services gives me knowledge from the real world. But the most important two things that social services bring to me are: the love for the weak people and the realization of my social value. All these two precious things could not be gotten in school study or work in a company, but they are almost indispensable for me to generate my view of life.

However, the mere fact that public services would benefit not only the whole country but also each participant is insufficient to support the recommendation that government should set up a mandatory system requiring all citizens to perform a specified amount of public service. We have to admit that there are some people that have no ability to do such services for the society. Disabled people, unemployed workers and some minorities and immigrants may not even have the ability to support themselves, not to say doing services for the society. Neglecting the real situation of some people may and forcing them to perform free volunteer services may bring social problems.

What’s more, the most important thing we pursue in the volunteer social work—the love for people and the realization of one’s social value—will be lost if a mandatory system is set up. People always bring a heart full of love to help others when they do these things voluntarily. But when they are forced to do certain services, people’s attitude may change greatly. They will do these things for pressure rather than for love. And they can no longer feel that they are realizing their special value in the world because everyone is doing the same. Therefore, such policy is quite possible to lead to a result that citizens’ passion for social services disappear in the last.

I recommend that the best choice for a government to enhance the amount of social services its citizens do is not to set up a mandatory system but to teach and guide the citizen through possible ways such as the mass media and schools. Showing citizens the benefits of doing services and encouraging them to act are likely to motivate many people who are able to help others do the services they could and foster love between people. And the whole society could be expected to become more harmonious through such efforts.

期待大砖头～