“My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you: Ask what you can do for your country.” (John F. Kennedy)

And he is not the only one who tries to pass on the idea that a person’s value is measured by the service he can give others. When looking into the world around me I can not help asking, if this is really correct.

Let’s first look at the money side. In this arena this certainly does not seem to be true. Here we often see the brutal and ruthless with the most wealth. I’m thinking about your local drug dealer, who certainly delivers a service, but it is not really a service that serves the recipient well in the long run. The boss of the that local drug dealer is the one that has the big car, and maybe the yacht in the next harbor down at the beach.

So, here we have monetary reward for rather destructive activity.

Next we can look at politics. Which is the most successful politician – the one who works for self determination of the people or the one who makes promises that he could never keep in order to gain personal power? Looking at the current situation where Ron Paul was the only voice that tried to get us back to some sanity and who was boycotted by the media urges me to assume that also in this arena the good service to the fellow man is not the one that’s rewarded.

Last point I want to look at is wooing. Yes, I know, it’s a bit weird, but I think it’s interesting to investigate this. Take two guys, one is the really nice guy, polite, considerate, opening-the-door kind of guy. The other is the athlete, totally in love with himself, self-centered and usually not very smart. Which one of those two gets the girl?

Do I come to the conclusion that the idea that serving others is of greatest value is plain wrong and only perpetrated by those who want to leech on those that believe this story?

No, I don’t think so. Despite all the examples I can observe outside of me, when I look inside and observe my feeling when I have done something nice for another person without any hidden agenda, it is no question where the real values are. Furthermore, it is often that we miss doing the good deed because of consideration that others might view us as week, opportunistic or worse. Once we get over that and really enjoy the true reward of the good deed, all that does not matter.

What we have gained, and that is the most valuable, is our freedom to choose, independent of the opinion of others, critical as well as supportive.

An in this spirit I present a picture showing service that is reward in itself, no need for an external gratification.

(Thanks, HD, for a little view into your daily life!)