“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?”DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
The legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and other civil rights leaders continues to impact the advancement of civil rights, social justice, and transformational action. What is the place of leadership and how does it align with serving the needs of organizations, groups, and individuals?
Service and leadership are no longer being seen as separate qualities that define good leaders. In fact, the connection between intent and impact is grows more important. How do you tap into the knowledge of both those before you and the knowledge of members of community who have their finger on the pulse?
Acknowledging both is the goal of the practice of servant leadership. Servant leadership is defined as a “philosophy and set of practices that enriches the lives of individuals, builds better organizations and ultimately creates a more just and caring world.”
Dr. King understood the importance of service. It was connected to his vision of “beloved community.” Service was a way that everyone could connect in both building community and in being a leader. In the present, the servant leader works in and alongside community to create progress and works to fight against justice and have an equitable society.
How can you be intentive – be attentive to how your intent impacts others? Here is a list of a few ways that you can participate in servant leadership and balance how to be mindful about the impact of “doing good” while working with and alongside community. It is not comprehensive, but it is a start:
- Volunteer:
The giving back of your time and skills is one of the most common ways people think of service.It can also be one of the most challenging ways to serve. With the rise of voluntourism,- merging volunteering and tourism – there has been a growing trend of people traveling to do some good in other communities, but this can also negatively impact communities. Voluntourism can happen closer to home whenever someone volunteers without paying attention to their impact on communities and not paying attention to what a group of people need.
Be intentive about how you volunteering. It is not about recognition, rescuing people, or the social media clout. Let go of ego. Be humble and listen to the communities you are serving. What do they already have? Listen. What are they asking for? Where can you help the people with what they are asking for, not what you think they need help with?
- Donate to a cause:
In the time of pandemics and social distancing, donating to causes has become even more common for some individuals. For some who may not be able to give time or skills directly, donating money can be a way to provide service and resources. One way to be intentive when donating is to be educated about the issues. - Educate yourself about the issues:
Learn about the organization or group you to whom you are donating. Who are the people? What do they have? What are they asking for?This can be done for whenever you look at areas of community need. For example, what is the status of hunger in your community? Access to services like books or internet? Human rights violations?Look at the response of organizations, institutions, or individuals in your community. How are they working to address the needs, challenges, or injustices you identified? Question why these injustices exist in the first place. How might they be upheld by the status quo in your community? Are the organizations doing the serving listening to the needs of the people or following a self-interest?
- Listen
Listening is hard. It’s difficult to listen when you have ideas on how you can help, what skills you might be able to give, or where you can best serve.Servant leadership asks us to step away from knowing all of the answers. It also relieves us of having to be the expert. Listening, might be one of the most important tools you have when it comes to giving back. It allows you to understand where a community or person is coming from. Maybe the thing you think the community needs is one of things they already have. How do you figure out what someone needs first?Listen.See another perspective. Understand what assets someone else has. What can you learn from them?
- Consider the faces and services you don’t see:
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is an example of one of the faces we know and do see. At the same time, the civil rights movement was made up of thousands of children, mothers, fathers, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and neighbors who may only appear as a face in the background of a photo or one of the million faces from the March on Washington.Think about the members of the community whose efforts may be unsung. What about the retired volunteer without whom a community program could not run? What about the woman who quietly walks around the neighborhood each morning picking up trash and contributing in her own small way. Why don’t we value these individuals. How do we honor the quieter stories? How do we get better at acknowledging the value of the faces and services we don’t see?
Doesn’t giving back imply someone took something to begin with?
Some folks might be uncomfortable with the idea of volunteering because “giving back” makes it sound like they took something to begin with.
Benjamin Franklin, soldier, scientist, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States acknowledged this sentiment:
For my own Part, when I am employed in serving others, I do not look upon myself as conferring Favours, but as paying Debts.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LETTER TO JOSEPH HUEY (6 JUNE 1753); PUBLISHED IN ALBERT HENRY SMYTH, THE WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, VOLUME 3, P. 144.
Franklin further goes on to discuss how he is always receiving things from his fellow men which he never has an opportunity to return. Following Franklin’s thinking, what might be the ways someone receives, but doesn’t return?
There are also the privileges that we have no control over, but that are clear advantages. Maybe we have the privilege of a steady income that allows us money to buy back our time by purchasing services like take-out or cleaning services. Maybe we had the benefit of parents who always were supportive?
Ben Franklin realized that whether we directly see it or not, success is based on having had a lot of help from people we can never fully repay directly.
One more quote from Dr. King to consider:
Everybody can be great, because everybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don’t have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don’t have to know Einstein’s theory of relativity to serve. You don’t have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve.
You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love. And you can be that servant.
MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR., ‘THE DRUM MAJOR INSTINCT’ DELIVERED AT THE EBENEZER BAPTIST CHURCH, ATLANTA, GEORGIA, FEBRUARY 4, 1968
The call to service and charity Dr. King envisioned wasn’t one enveloped in ego or building up one’s résumé or portfolio. It saw every person as having something to offer and contribute. Service was a common meeting ground for all people where credentials or titles didn’t matter. Everyone was and is equal in their ability to serve.
There is plenty more to unpack and consider. As we move through our lives we must consider service and leadership and the ways we bring both together to meet within ourselves and in reaching out to others.
Interested in learning more about Dr. King and his work? Check out:
The King Center– Website for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change
Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?- Dr. King’s fourth and last book before his assassination
Some selected speeches you can find online:
I Have a Dream— delivered 28 August 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C.
Methodist Student Leadership Conference Address— delivered 1964, Lincoln, Nebraska
Sermon at Temple Israel of Hollywood— delivered 26 February 1965
Beyond Vietnam — A Time to Break Silence– Delivered 4 April 1967, Riverside Church, New York City
The Drum Major Instinct— delivered at 4 February 1968, Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta, Georgia
I’ve Been to the Mountaintop— delivered 3 April 1968, Mason Temple (Church of God in Christ Headquarters), Memphis, Tennessee
This article was adapted from a previous article appearing on my blog Culture Scholar Remix, tilted, “The Power of Giving Back,” January 21, 2019.
