A Twitter Tribute to Service On This Memorial Day
I've blogged before on my amazing experience of the social media site, Twitter. Occasionally, someone in my circle of Twitter friends will ask me to reflect briefly on a concept or topic of interest, and I'll do so in a series of tweets, or postings of 140 characters or less. Those who follow my tweets will then often retweet the thoughts, or copy and send them on to their followers, who may in turn forward them on out farther into the Twittersphere, and around the world. Many people also comment as I tweet. Some ask questions. Others make their own statements sparked by mine.
This morning, I was invited to help the people in my Twitter stream appreciate and honor the spirit of this Memorial Day by commenting briefly on the concept of service. Because of the reactions to those efforts just hours ago, I'd like to share here the series of short tweets that resulted. I offer here only my own, with a couple of extra additions in the spirit of the originals. If you want to go to Twitter, you can find many of the additional remarks from others that these first musings sparked. My hope is that some of them will incite your own thoughts about the importance of what we remember on this occasion each year.
Service.
Today, we honor a great form of service to the nation. It may help us to reflect a bit on what service is.
The English word, 'service' comes to us ultimately from the Latin 'servus' - the word for slave.
It's ironic that the greatest form of human activity is named after the worst form of the human condition.
But life is shot through with paradox and irony. We often see the best somehow reflect and redeem the worst.
Service is concern and action for others.
Service puts others first. And, ironically, it's in acts of service that we most often feel our best and become our best.
Service lifts us up as we lift others up.
We never freely serve only someone else. True service to another always improves our own souls.
Service without love is a thin reflection of true service that comes from the heart.
But any form of service can begin to mold our souls and expand us, if we allow it.
Business at its best is a form of service.
Family life at its best is a form of service.
Governmental work, at any level, should be a form of service.
Leadership in any context ought to be understood as service.
Patriotism, in the end, is about service: To our families, colleagues, neighbors, nation, and through our nation, to the world.
Take a moment today to remember the service of others, and especially the forms that have involved the ultimate worldly sacrifice.
Whenever you see good service, say something good and give thanks.
Whenever you give good service, feel grateful for the chance.
One of our greatest freedoms is precisely our freedom to serve.
True service always inspires.
Service brings people together.
An act of genuine service taps into a need we each have to meet a need that others have. It can fulfill us uniquely.
In the end, our lives will be evaluated not on how much money, power, fame, or status we attained, but on how well we have served.
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As always... Great post Tom. You inspire large numbers daily with your words of inspiration, wisdom or simply sharing thoughts. Thank you. I appreciate you!
Whether in essay form or in Twitter bites, Tom V Morris always causes me to expand my thoughts and my heart. His remarkable series of Tweets on Service yesterday helped me internalize my gratitude for my beloved father -- The Colonel, whose military commitment and cred was unassailable -- and for everyone who serves their country and fellow citizens with honor and with love.
The beauty of Twitter is that it has allowed me to connect with and follow a couple of new Tweeps, soldiers now serving in Iraq.
Tweet on Tom Morris, Tweet on!
Great Post Tom
"In the end, our lives will be evaluated not on how much money, power, fame, or status we attained, but on how well we have served"
I believe in serving. That's what I stand for. Our main purpose as humans is to serve one another through our knowledge, wisdom, skills, potentials, talents, etc
Well written article. Straightforward and inspires us to see if we are doing our best to be man and women of great service in our communities and world!
By serving others, we feel fulfilled!
On this day to remember those who offered their ultimate service to our country let us resound Tom's sentiment but may I add this. Service and selflessnes are one in the same. When you give of yourself for any cause you give of your time and passion...
This is lovely. I think it honors those who have served in the military, and those who serve our country in other ways as well. In my family we have many Veterans, and most have mixed feelings about Memorial Day, many related to the angry comment made by SleepRun above. It is true, our Military Machine is a mixed bag and good and bad. In my family there is a general angst about the current wars, and a genuine hope that Obama will lift the ban on openly gay service in the Military.
We are also concerned about the lack of good services for our soldiers (whether we agree with their efforts or not) once they come back home. I blog in song and posted a song about this today - specifically about a series of murders and suicides all from the same twice deployed brigade from Ft. Carson Colorado, near my home. Please take a moment to listen to the song, and lets all think about what we can do to change the treatment of our Vets, and prevent war.
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I'm only sorry I wasn't there this morning to see this piece being "birthed" -- it's wonderful! This one, in particular:
We never freely serve only someone else. True service to another always improves our own souls.
made me think, because I have run into so many people who question their own altruism in service, because of the benefit they feel. I think it's good to understand that the purest possible motives can exist, and a benefit still be felt, that it's the nature of the beast.
Thank you!
Tom, thank you for incapsulating your thoughts on service and the thoughts of others. It becomes even more poignant today, on Memorial Day. As I search for a common denominator in the messages above, the word 'connection' comes to mind. Service is what connects us with other humans, ideas, thoughts, actions. And through these connections, we move closer towards harmony with the world. I believe that service is selfless and demonstrates a sign of respect and admiration. We are able to leave our isolated selfs and merge with a force that is greater than ourselves, because ultimately we are all working with the predetermined notion that we are all part of a much bigger picture. And service is what assists us in maintaining and sustaining tthat goal. I believe that you have touched upon the very essance of unity and the route we take to get there. Great post.
Richard Bassett
Oh pleeze, you want to honor the dead?! Then let's talk about what this is really about - KILLING people.
Good cause, bad cause? Maybe. Who knows. Defending "free" (our favorite word in the states) "dom." Isn't that a little self-serving when we have ALL the guns/bulle
Soldiers are trained killers. Why dissemble? We've had decades (a century?) of bloody wars. Most recent ones - we started. What have we really gotten from it except cheap gas?
Would the dead want to be honored with more military stuff or a whole lot less? Hmmm?
As a country, do we really want to sellebrate the military ad nausaum? Guess so, cuz, we're doing it.
It's hard (if not impossible to find a Tom V Morris article) and the timing is impeccable Tom. I was just having this conversation with a friend re: "Service" yesterday. We came to the conclusion that the fine line between a person being an island and a part of civilization is "service". That is what connects us. Whether is it friendship, commerce, war, (name it); we serve, therefore we are (a part of this society).
The sadness is what (though implied in your article) but left out, is that lack of service = a long slow sad death of a soul; and I don't mean physical. It is much worse than death, that is, to "become an island" and not a part of our human spirits (of which we should try to connect, since we are actually connected anyway). Ironically, if biblical and philosophical teachers are correct, then we are even a part of the human spirits whom of which we might be at war. This is a dichotomy of which no philosophical or
theological thesis paper has ever ended in an argument I've understood (nor has war). I appreciate this fine writing, and hope you continue Serving us with such insight.
Tom,
I always enjoy reading your musings. The origin of service makes perfect sense to me. For many of us, myself included, being of service is as necessary to nourishing our souls as air and water are to nourishing our bodies . I suppose, in a way, this makes us slaves to being of service...
Polymath philosopher provides perspective on proper patriotic pursuits.
"In the end, our lives will be evaluated not on how much money, power, fame, or status we attained, but on how well we have served." SO true...
A great day to reflect far beyond the grill and the backyard parties.
Fabulous post as always...
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