Thoughts along the path . . .

 

Connecting through Service

With September being the month for back-to-school, I’m thinking about the hundreds of children and youth who grew up here in Ayr and how they have matured into their adulthood. Obviously, there are countless possibilities: some continue their education, some find jobs, some travel — and some choose to devote time to service through volunteering.

What is service? Dictionary definitions include phrases such as “the action of helping or doing work for someone.” Service is sometimes a voluntary action, i.e. without any requirement and without motivation for personal profit. This doesn’t mean the volunteer doesn’t benefit; it just means that the benefit is not readily measured in a monetary or material way.

In the Baha’i Faith, deeds motivated by the desire to serve humanity is regarded as an act of worship. To help us to build the connection between what we do and how it may serve others, the next Unity Café will offer an opportunity to learn about four youths from Ayr who have done exactly that. With guest-emcee Adib Ahrari, who served as an overseas volunteer, we will learn about Pariya Vejdani (profiled in an interview in this newspaper one week ago), who volunteered for a year in Haifa, Israel. Her brothers Saba and Rayyan will round out the program as they share their own service in Canada and overseas.

Of course, there are other youth in Ayr who have done extraordinary service work. With that in mind, the presenters at the Unity Café will tell us a little bit about what they did. But every more importantly, they will share their motivation and what they learned.

Why am I telling you about all of this? Because you are invited to the North Dumfries Community Complex on Friday September 20 at 7 pm (or even 6:45). After the program we will have refreshments with plenty of time to relax and enjoy social time.

For more information please see http://northdumfries-bahais.org/ or email unitycafe.ayr@gmail.com .

 

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Submitted to Ayr News by Jaellayna Palmer September 2019

© Jaellayna Palmer 2019