[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 12 (Tuesday, February 12, 2002)]
[House]
[Page H239]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1315
                   WHY COMMUNITY SERVICE IS IMPORTANT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Culberson). Pursuant to the order of the 
House of January 23, 2002, the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Smith) is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SMITH of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, I wanted to make some comments 
today on how everybody in America should consider doing a little more 
to help others. Helping others in your neighborhood or contributing 
service, either at the community or national level should be considered 
an obligation.
  I was this past week deciding on the essay topic that I ask seniors 
to write, as part of their application to apply for what I have called 
the LeGrand Smith Scholarship. It is named after my dad. I simply take 
all of the pay increases that I have had since I first ran in the 
Michigan Senate back in 1983 and put those funds into an irrevocable 
trust for scholarships for graduating seniors. It is designed to reward 
and acknowledge those individuals in high school that are not only 
academically capable but also are willing to contribute to others in 
community service or in leadership positions in high school. Part of 
the scoring of the committee that decides winners, is the grading of an 
essay. The committee was deciding the essay topic and had it narrowed 
down to two topics; why patriotism is important in America or why 
helping others and working in some community service or national 
service is important. We decided on the latter. The President in his 
State of the Union address suggested that we have a Freedom Corps where 
every individual in America during their lifetime contribute 2 years of 
community or national service.
  I would like to suggest, Mr. Speaker, that a lot of individuals could 
gain significantly by serving in a community and national service 
program. I would envision the possibility of taking every high school 
senior when they graduate from high school to go into a community and 
national service program, this would be an opportunity for young people 
to go through maybe 6 weeks of basic training and then serve in 
national or community service. In 1990 we passed a bill in Congress 
signed by the President, the community and national service 
legislation, that establishes 20 plus different types of community and 
national service. I envision a system where you could expand that to 
serve in your local communities, in local hospitals, with senior groups 
or many other areas of need. Certainly there is a tremendous need now 
for individuals to serve at the national level in many aspects. A 
national service bill for high school students would have maybe the 
same kind of 6 weeks of basic training that many of us had in earlier 
years in boot camp where you learn discipline, respect for yourself and 
others as well as patriotism.
  When I went into the Air Force, into boot camp, I thought I had a lot 
of discipline, self-discipline. As it turned out, getting up at 5 
o'clock in the morning and going out and doing aggressive exercises and 
then making a very neat bed and keeping your clothes pressed and your 
shoes shined as well as education about defending our country plus the 
patriotism that we learned was valuable.
  But one thing that all of us that served in that basic training also 
learned in associating with individuals from all kinds of backgrounds, 
was respect for others. We learned that individuals that had different 
religious faiths, individuals that were yellow, black, tan, white or 
whatever ended up being just as qualified in their intelligence, just 
as qualified in their leadership ability and just as nice of people as 
anyone else. It gave us a new perspective and also at the same time I 
think opened new vistas of opportunities and the feeling of 
responsibility to help others when they need help.
  When the President suggested a national service program, I wonder how 
many of us will respond. I think the response should be very 
aggressive. But I also think it should be a responsibility that every 
graduating high school senior come into some kind of a program where 
they would go through 6 weeks of kind of basic training and another 
four months of serving others. And maybe with what happened September 
11, it is especially important.
  Mr. Speaker, in combination with patriotism, I think community and 
national service is a responsibility of all Americans. I encourage all 
to participate.

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