Some years back we were returning from a week long Church camp at Stuarts Point when I pulled into a service station to refuel. As I returned to the car after paying this sleek, black Ferrari convertible pulled into the next bay. Out jumped the driver without opening the door, black hair all nicely greased back, which set the tone for my first impression of the young man - sleazy young ...
My daughter piped up ‘That’s a nice car Dad’.
Yeah, I thought, looking at my old bomb, a 1994 Holden Berlina with over 300,000 kilometers on the clock. Talk about a looser. How do I make myself look good in this situation?
‘I’ll have you know’, I blurted out, ‘I spent the first 20 years of my working life in the air force.' ‘The air force was not about making money; it was about service to the nation. I have spent the rest of my life working for the Church. The Church is not about making money, it is about service. I feel good that my life has been one of service rather than serving the corporate interest.’
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| Receiving Defence Force Service Medal for 15 years service |
And as soon as I said it I felt good about myself. ‘How did I come out with that?’ I thought. Not that I have anything against companies and other organisations that exist to make money, so long as it is done ethically. These can also provide much needed goods and services to the community.
The best thing about this little encounter came a few months later when my daughter said to me: ‘Dad, when I finish school I want to do something that serves others’. At the end of last year she graduated with a Primary Teaching degree and is now looking for work. When we work for organisations, whether they are profit making or not-for-profit, to the extent that they provide valuable goods and services to the community we all serve. Yet in my mind, there remains something different, something good, about those organisations that exist primarily to serve, not to profit. And there are those who work for them - teachers, nurses, firefighters, police, to name a few. Not to mention, of course, the many volunteers who give freely of their time delivering meals on wheels, working for the SES, raising money for worthy causes and more.
As Australians we hear these words each ANZAC day - words that are written on many memorials across the country.
‘Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.’ (John 15:13)
On ANZAC day we commemorate service and sacrifice on behalf of others. That same spirit shown by the ANZACs is shared by those who volunteer their time for others, and by those who accept less than they might otherwise earn to work in service-related fields.
Sometimes I wonder what difference it would make to our country and the world if we all lived with an attitude of service.
