Why do we do community service?

This post was inspired by a prompt my civics teacher had us whrite. Why do we/should we do community service? Here is my answer.....

I think we serve each other for multiple reasons, having to do with the natural human ability to feel sympathy and compassion for one another. Those instinctive qualities we have drive us to extend our efforts towards other human beings. Another reason is we get some inner satisfaction from it. It makes us feel good about ourselves when we give back. We also like knowing that if we were ever in need, for whatever reason, the same generosity would be extended to us. Kind of a "treat others the way you would like to be treated" motto. But anther huge reason we serve our community, or why we think we should, is the feeling of community service is embedded in our national identity. Since the formation of this country we have helped one another. The freedom of religion started in this country led to various faiths being able to extend great efforts to help the poor. Churches brought food to the sick and aid to the poor, even when they lived miles away from each other. As the country industrialized in the late 1800s and early 1900s, organizations like the Red Cross and Boy Scouts of America, started up, spreading across the nation, starting mass mobilization of community service. Setting examples of how ordinary americans can help, and making it possible for everyone to get involved. I think, our calling to do community service is part of the modern american dream thanks to these early service foundations. Its obviously important to our society or else we would not have classes like civics embedded in our education system. Thats how you tell a society values something, when they take the time and money to teach it to their children. We are fortunate to live in a society that puts so much value in community service. I think community service is often felt to be a civic duty as much as a humanity duty.