A group like this could not have developed unless a mood in the United States had supported it – the belief that any true American must share God’s blessings with his poorer fellow men. The idea that every American has something to give, and at all times may, can, and should give it, explains why it occurred to students that they could help Mexican peasants ‘develop’ by spending a few months in their villages.”

How can this mindset, this way of thinking, actually cause harm where good is intended?

This question is highly relevant to our own service learning that is central to this course. It leads to personal questions: are we wasting our own time? Are we causing harm at the Boys and Girls clubs when we mean to be helping the children there? Answering this initial question can guide how we spend time ourselves, both during this quarter and as we do service in the future. Our question is not a mere exercise in intellectual thinking; it has ramifications in real life and in our success in this class and at the Boys and Girls club. The question can also lead to more general ponderings: What forms of service and practices common to service really do help? Which ones cause harm? How can we perform service in the most effective way? Which forms of service should be abandoned altogether? How can you tell the difference? Asking our initial question can lead to a transformation of the ways we do service, both as individuals and as a community.

One way in which service can cause harm is when the volunteers force ideals and culture on the people who are being served. While the people may have physical needs – shelter, medicine, clean water – they are generally content with their culture, which doesn’t necessarily need changing. When volunteers try to impose elements of their own culture on those being served, they can destroy a culture as good as their own, contribute to a global monoculture, and cause turmoil in the country as the old and new cultures clash.