Walter Alvarado

February 9, 2016
EXPL 292
Patrick M. Green

Reflection B

After my last reflection on community service that I did about two weeks ago and the last
couple classes we've had, I felt that I had a pretty good understanding of the different
perspectives people had on community service such as to why people did community service, its
impact, and the relationships that are built through the experience of community service. After
reading an address by Ivan Illich called To Hell with Good Intentions and the analyzing of
Starfish Hurling and Community Service done by Keith Morton, I learned a new perspective on
community service, gained a different understanding to how people learn about what community
service is, and was able to connect these ideas to the ones of other authors. Through this newly
presented perspectives and ideas from these two readings, I am now able to see how someone
who receives service, that is suppose to be beneficial to them, truly sees community service and
the service done by Americans.
The first reading presented to us is called To Hell with Good Intentions. This reading is an
address given by Monsignor Ivan Illich during a conference in Cuernavaca, Mexico. In this
conference/address, Monsignor Ivan Illich discuses his view on InterAmerican Student Projects
and how he feels truly about Americans going into Latin America for actions of community

service through these projects. He goes on to discuss how Americans don't really do community
service for the benefit of Latin American countries but for the benefit of themselves and for the
benefit of their own country, the US. Monsignor Ivan discusses how people are like metaphorical
salesmen for the US and how through the projects and community service they believe to be
doing, they are actually really depicting the image of an American middle class and the American
way of life. For example, as someone who grows up in the US, they are taught to share the
blessings bestowed upon them with those who are poorer and unlucky. Through InterAmerican
Student Projects, students are able to depict this American value and help the US survive by
convincing other countries that here we have Heaven-on-Earth.(Ivan Illich)
Another big point that Monsignor Ivan Illich presents, something that kind of surprised
me, is the perspective that those who receive service from Americans, didn't ask for it and don't
need it. He discusses the point that Americans take it upon themselves to temporarily move into
villages in order to do community service for those in need in the area. Americans tend to do
service projects that involves them integrating into communities and sharing their culture. He
also seems to mention how the US will pay to help Americans ease into the culture of the country
they are staying at without consideration of those they are interacting with. These people for one,
didn't ask for help and two, didn't ask to be integrated with people that don't know about their
way of living. These people, as well as those who travel to do community service through service
projects, experience culture shock and feel like they need to accept this community service group
when in all reality, they might not want it. Going back to Monsignor Ivans first point, people
tend to do it for personal gain and for the gain of their country. Sometimes when people go on
service projects, they go to gain a new understanding of living, one they can take back to the US

and teach or inspire people with, making the US a better place. This is done at the cost of
affecting a communities living space without really providing any real help. This experience that
is then brought back to the US, is taught and told, which can often give a false perception of
what community service is.
The next reading, Starfish Hurling and Community Service by Keith Morton, discusses
the teaching of community service with false perceptions. He begins by telling a popular story
that is told at community service events. In this story, a terrible storm hits a beach and brings in a
lot of the starfish from the ocean. A man sees this and decides to throw the starfish back into the
ocean one-by-one. Another man sees this and criticizes him by saying that his work is pointless
and his effort of saving the starfish was useless. The story ends with the first man responding that
it might not count for all the starfish but certainly counts for each individual starfish he is able to
hurl back into the water. After referring to this story, Keith Morton goes on to discuss how this is
mis-educative and he wishes people would stop using it to teach community service to future
generations. Points he brings up to support his argument about the story are that: in the story that
kid is helping starfish, it avoids the complexity of the ecology of animals who could be affected,
it entails us to believe that we should community service as a response to our emotions instead of
using our heads, and finally, it takes the community part out of community service.
In the story, starfish are being helped and not people. This is one of the problems Keith
has with the story saying that, It avoids, therefore, the shadow side of the service, the sticky
problem of who deserves our help. People should be able to give their opinion and make their
voice heard. This can be compared to one of the points Monsignor has about how Latin
American people have no voice to whether they want help or not since Americans cant really

communicate with those they help. Another problem that Keith addresses is the complexity of
community service. In the story, the starfish are thrown in the water without thinking of the
consequence it could have on the ecology. Same goes for communities and the people in them.
When you go into a community without really knowing about them, you could affect their way
of living and could ultimately, affect them as people. For example, if a service project goes into a
poor Latin American community with the intention of helping them get food, they could
ultimately make it harder to gain the other necessary resources. Community service, therefore
should be done from an intellectual aspect instead of just a response to us feeling bad or
emotional. Working as a community and allowing for everyone to interact, if they wish to, can
ultimately help communities grow and develop.
In conclusion, there are many different aspects to community service, both from those
who do it and those who receive the service. The complexity of community service should not be
underestimated and should not be looked over. One must think of all the people it could affect,
allow those who receive the service to have the privilege to decide whether they want or need the
service, and the relationships they building while in the process of doing service All these aspects
of community service can lead to community service being taught the right way and being done
in a beneficial manner.