After several painful weeks apart, the class of 2008 reunited in Dublin’s fair city, where apparently the girls are so pretty…..
After service, sleepless nights and several hours of serious feedback, I felt like I was back in Washington D.C…..But I wasn’t, I just felt that way.
Thursday the 4th was a particular highlight for me. Not only was I able to celebrate a depressing birthday (22 years old is neither here nor there) with a good friend (who had an equally depressing reality of turning twenty- something), during the day we were able to partner with Global Action Plan (GAP) as part of the regeneration project for Ballymun. We had a fantastic day working in the local schools cultivating biodiversity gardens to enhance the flora and fauna population of greater Ballymun… essentially that means we were digging and weeding, but the way they presented it made it sound pretty important.
We were able to get quite a lot done in just a day and had a great working relationship with GAP staff. We were really looking forward to another day of getting our hands dirty and getting stuck in to more worthwhile work when Ballymun decided to literally flood, therefore meaning we were unable to continue our public service for the second day, much to the disappointment of our team…well most of our team.
So on reflection (a now natural reaction to absolutely anything I do, which the program subconsciously instils in you…beware) you could say we didn’t do an awful lot. I mean one day of public service is more a token gesture than anything else. And yes, to some extent I agree. But may I add that the act of service often sparks something within us. It gives us a desire to want to serve more. The satisfaction of getting the butterfly garden all weeded out and ready to attract masses of butterflies to the school made me want to do more. We delivered something tangible and it felt good. So my encouragement to the team would be that our one day public service in Dublin would once again inspire you to engage with your local community and see what way you can help to serve their needs. I hope that serving helps change our attitudes and our outlook on life. We are truly privileged and have so very much to offer society, I encourage you to do just that, offer yourself to serve society in whatever form that may be.
I’ll say it again, I hope these are beginnings rather than endings and I look forward to hearing and being a part of all the ways the class of 2008 serve communities and society at large.
