A life of service 1 “ Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone, just remember that all people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.” The first paragraph of The Great Gatsby reveals the fact that everybody has his own deficiencies, therefore the help or service provided by others are being stressed. Compared to the contribution we could make while providing services, happiness and sense of contentment brought by it counts more because they are the indispensable parts of success to me. As a result, living a ‘life of service’ is listed as my goal. Usually when talking about offering help, the first thing people could think of is volunteering. Undoubtedly being a volunteer is a good way to serve people. They generously give other individuals a hand without asking for money and could nearly provide any kind of services. However, I really question the sustainability and level of it. Since volunteers are volunteer to offer services, they are also free to quit, which poses a threat to the stability and sustainability of their services. We have to admit that more or less, the lack of pay may lead to the lack of responsibility and discipline. As employees, if we fail to get up in a weekdays’ morning we might be kicked out by the top banana, finding it hard to make a living. But as volunteers, if we get late, we don’t have to lose anything. Additionally, the unstandardized level of this type of services is also a problem unsolved. There is a huge demand for volunteers, making the quantity far outweigh the quality. In this case, the level of their professional skills will possibly be compromised. All these shortcomes imply that being a volunteer is far from living a ‘life of service’ for me, so I decide to adopt a new model---polishing my own professional skill. (to be continued )