Loving Your Neighbors

Community service is an area our Government often overlooks. A great example of my point is on display in this editorial from the New York Times. A few months ago Congress approved the Serve America Act, a program designed to let Americans participate in community and national service. However, after the budget for next year was released it was shown that $90 million dollars was missing from what President Obama was promised for this program. After reading this article I’m left to believe the editor of this New York Times blog is speaking directly to the American public. He is calling for our voices to be heard and challenging us to let the Government know that we will not stand for this sort of behavior. Although the author of the blog is not given, we must give the editor a great deal of credibility simply because of the newspaper he or she writes for. The New York Times is one of the most accredited newspapers in the world.

The editor is trying to explain to the American public that despite the hard times of our economy, it is crucial that our Government does not shortchange U.S. citizens when it comes to national and community service. The editorial states “Most egregious, the House omitted $41 million sought by Mr. Obama to expand AmeriCorps next year by 10,000 members, who would be put to serious tasks like mentoring at-risk students, cleaning up parks and responding to emergencies.” These are just a few areas the Act is continuing to help. It is clear our President has called us to serve our country from this article as well. The editor of the New York Times article makes a valid argument in his piece. His call for the House to provide the money they promised our President makes logical sense. We as American citizens must now act on what the editor is trying to tell us and let our Government know that we care about our community. Without community service we will simply let millions of people live their lives without an opportunity to be able to achieve their goals. A little help from each person will go a long way into improving the nation that we live in today.