Action expresses priorities. - Mohandas Gandhi

I dared to hope today. We are a country with big BIG problems. People are struggling (heck, I'm struggling) and people are scared. Every day when my phone doesn't ring is a reminder that the job market is tight and that, if I am panicking, then I can't imagine what people with children or elderly parents must be feeling. I'm lucky, in a way. I don't own a home... so I'm not worried about losing it. My car is old and paid off... so I don't have to worry about a monthly payment. I have food to eat, a roof over my head, and gas in my tank. There are so so many that do not. But still, it has felt hopeless.

Then, this week, the world began to change. And today, as I drove down a country road, with the leaves turning and the sound of our new president-elect's voice on my radio, I felt the hope and excitement about what this country can be again. We have been so selfish and so self-centered. I KNOW that I have been. We consume until we are satiated, and then we complain when we believe that our "rights" to that consumption might be at risk.

So here's the thing about Barack Obama: he thinks that we are better than that. He has called on us to serve. It seems so simple, right? I grew up in a household of hard working people. But I was never really taught about service. And perhaps, because I have come into it on my own terms, it is more meaningful. My gifts aren't extraordinary - but they are something... they are a start. And right now, they are all I have to give.

My grandparents are part of what Tom Brokaw has dubbed the Greatest Generation. They came of age in a world with two particular realities - economic depression and war. And they are considered great because they worked together, in service to their fellow citizens and to their country, towards recovery and prosperity. Can we not take inspiration from their example?

I urge you to read and consider President-Elect Obama's Universal Voluntary Citizen Service plan. Don't worry - you won't become a lily-livered, bleeding heart liberal if you just take a look. I promise.