What does it mean to serve?

More than 80% of Notre Dame students participate in service before graduation — a testament to the University’s mission of cultivating a concern for the common good. Although I am only 10% into my journey at Notre Dame, I feel that I have been thrust into a greater conversation about what it means to serve and act in solidarity.

When asked about personal motivations behind service, the commonplace answer is probably “to give back to the community.” However, the more complicated — and perhaps more challenging — question is why do we choose to give back?

Is it animated by the Catholic character and values of the University, which calls us to extend our hearts to the most vulnerable? Or, is it because of personal connections to particular issues of justice, allowing us to act on the moral preferences most proximate to us? Or, perhaps more cynically, is it to assuage a sense of guilt — the responsibility we feel to use our privilege for something greater than ourselves? It could also very well just be for academic and professional goals. All explanations are plausible, but the point is that it is ultimately something worth reflecting on.

Moreover, I believe that we often enter service with an asymmetry of privilege that can manifest itself in unspoken ways. While we are able to return to our “regular” lives after volunteering, the people we are serving may, for instance, return to a struggle for survival. We can choose to wear clothes that we’re comfortable with getting dirty during a service project, while those we seek to help may be unable to exercise that agency. During my Center for Social Concerns immersion to Appalachia, the facilitator of the nonprofit we assisted expressed that many of their unhoused citizens were simply excited at the fact that students from Notre Dame were coming to their town.

Notably, I believe this implicit power dynamic should be avoided in approaching service. I’ve learned that it’s not just about dedicating time to help others — wherein we provide a service from a position of fortune — but also about learning from them and forming relationships. It is this element of genuine reciprocity that I believe service opportunities at Notre Dame seek to instill. It can be difficult to put ourselves fully in the shoes of others, but I think service is being intentional about practicing empathy to the best of our abilities — to listen with an open mind. It is acknowledging that the relationships we form are like any other and that they ought to be sustained in equal, compassionate and healthy ways.

The last observation I will make is on the issue of temporality. Students may seek to pursue more traditional careers, rather than committing their lives to explicitly service-adjacent vocations. Does that nullify our “good works?” Probably not. However, in navigating this cognitive dissonance, our education at Notre Dame seeks to “nourish our hearts” so that no matter what we choose to do post-graduation, we are encouraged to work in ways that advance the common good.

You can contact Ethan at echiang@nd.edu.