Week 7 Response- Elena

First I wanted to start by reacting to Rob Reich's lecture/discussion on Ethics in Public Service. Overall I thought it was an interesting perspective to hear, but I had a lot of problems with some of his main ideas about public service. I really didn't like that he said public service was virtually useless if the time period was under a year, or maybe even two years. I understand that it's difficult to really connect with a new community enough to effect significant change in a small period of time, but I believe that public service is a lot more than the tangible advances that can be put on paper. It's possible to have an impact on a community in an intangible way, perhaps just by planting ideas into their minds. Also, I really disliked the fact that Rob Reich ignored any good that public service does for the person who is performing the service when he analyzed whether a public service trip or effort was "worthwhile". Johnny Dorsey's remark about how public service (no matter how short a trip or experience may be) can positively impact a person who is doing the service, whether through personal growth or through a grander growth in the direction of a career in public service. Even though I disagreed with many of his ideas, I still thought it was good to hear somebody speak coming from this very different perspective. I really enjoyed this last class and the opportunity to bond some more as a group. It got me really excited about the trip to look at the itinerary and discuss the health education projects. Several years ago I went on a trip to Peru with my church and actually had the opportunity to put on several skits, and all of them in spanish, so I have experience writing and performing skits in spanish! I have a couple ideas as far as skits to promote hygiene and sanitation that will really engage the kids (and adults too, probably!) and I'm excited to talk about them more with my group!