Chapter 6: Preparing for Outreach: Respect and Reciprocity

Chapter six of Thomas Deans Writing and Community Action deals with many of the ethics that often come to light when dealing with community service and offering your services in a way that betters the community. The chapter addresses the difference between doing service for the community in a manner that betters yourself, verses doing the work with the intention of bettering the community. Asking yourself this question is very important because often we do actions without really questioning our motives, which is a loss to both yourself as well as whoever you are working for.

One of the questions asked within this chapter is “Of the three kinds of service- charity, service, and social change-is one more ethical or desirable than the others? How? Why(255)?” I think in general charity is stereotyped as being the best of the three because charity is suppose to be an action that derives for the heart. I don’t believe this to be true. I think service is the more ethical of the three because I think true service entails charity. For example, my project with Project Horizon this semester is not one that I would have volunteered for out of charity, it was done out of service to my commitment as a student. However, I do not find that to be less ethical than charity. Its just like being a Soldier or doing any other job that is seen as helping the community, Soldiers are very aware that they may die one day as a result of their job choice but many join the service for the same reason that other people acquire jobs: Money and security. Simply because they do not serve their country for free, as charity entails, does not make it less meaningful. I feel the same about the relationship between any project and ethics. If the project is good in the sense that it helps give aid to people or further an organization, I think even if it the service is forced that does not take away from the action a whole.