I've never liked community service, and I don't like it now. So far in my life, it has only been my friends and my family that have influenced me and helped me in any way. As far as the service learning we had to do goes, it was very tedious and drawn-out. Because I had picked a site late, there were only few spots for volunteers and the spots left didn't have anything to do with actual homeless or less fortunate people. I worked on computers and did database entries most of the time, and only once had the opportunity to make calls to people involved with the center.
The funniest thing I remember is calling this woman who spoke very little English, similar to other people I called. My verbal Spanish is limited, and I only know certain things by repetition. I spoke Spanglish to her and the whole time she kept saying "no entiendes" and here I am thinking to myself, what in the world does that mean? I told her to hold on for a second in Spanish and ran around from cubicle to cubicle, looking for someone who could speak Spanish and help me out. It was nervewracking, but hilarious all the same.
Service learning didn't benefit me in any way, I think. I went and completed what I had to because it was required, and while I feel that having to versus wanting to go is the staple of my generation. I know that giving back and reaching out to others who have less than I do are the right things to do, but I just can't bring myself to that point of wanting to yet.
