JFK's Invitation

Published in the Idaho State Journal in November 2013.
 

Last Sunday the Journal began its series marking the 50^th anniversary of JFK’s assassination.  I spent this past week in New England, but I kept up with the article online.  I confess. I read some of the pieces on my phone from a Dunkin’ Donuts.  There may still be traces of powdered sugar on my phone case.

By sheer happenstance with a bid on Priceline, I spent last weekend in our country’s longest continuously operating hotel in downtown Boston. The Omni Parker House holds numerous connections to President Kennedy.

It was the site of JFK’s first public speech at the age of seven. He hopped up on a chair in the Press Room during a birthday party for his grandfather and former Boston mayor, John “Honey-Fitz” Fitzgerald. He proposed to Jackie in the hotel restaurant, held his bachelor party there, and later announced his candidacy for Congress in that same Press Room.  The entire hotel oozed a rich, historical energy.

My political leanings were greatly influenced by my mother whose own leanings were greatly influenced by JFK.  She was 19 years old when he was inaugurated on January 20, 1961. She spoke about her college crush on the handsome 35^th president and what an impact his Inauguration Day speech had on her. Ironically, she died exactly 40 years after that famed day during George W. Bush’s first inauguration.  I always take a personal holiday when an inauguration falls on a weekday for some quality reflection on our country’s political and my personal past, present and future.

JFK’s Inauguration speech has become titled, “Ask Not What Your Country Can Do for You.” The most significant part of his appeal comes in his next words:  “Ask what you can do for your country.” The key, though, in those words is not in the doing but rather in the asking. There is an unspoken element following JFK’s directing us to ask of imploring us to listen.

Immediately we may think of doing for our country in the form of our armed services, but “country” extends to our professions, communities, churches, and schools. It’s one thing to ask what we can do, but it’s another thing entirely to truly hear what is needed in these arenas and follow through. Sometimes we are fortunate when our duties and desires intersect.

I volunteered as a math club coach for twelve years at the Pocatello Community Charter School (PCCS). This is my first year in as long not working with the mathletes, and I miss it and them terribly. Over a decade ago, the principal of the school learned about the MATHCOUNTS® program and her school needed a coach. What a fabulous opportunity for me!

Volunteering as a middle school math coach gave me the chance to serve a school, its students and also my profession in hopefully sparking an interest in engineering.  Working with kids while encouraging a love of math encompassed a doing for others where my interests lie and my talents blossomed.  I’ve silently thought of my years as a math coach as my selfish service.  The school’s need for a coach and my desire and ability to help struck an ideal balance.

I had a lot of conversations with the former PCCS principal about volunteering and service throughout both of our tenures at the school.  PCCS was founded over fifteen years ago by parent volunteers who felt that volunteering and service should be a key component of their children’s education. Although much of the school’s culture is centered on service as a part of their curriculum, their former principal often spoke of the continuous need for volunteers.  Volunteering trends ebb and flow but needs are constant.   

One of the school’s founders gave me her assessment. Parents who volunteer feel ownership and inclusion, and as a result, so do their children. Parents who volunteer are closely connected to each other, the teachers, and the children and a foundation for a culture of community is established. As volunteering wanes, so does the richness of the experience for all involved.

As we remember John F. Kennedy and his inspirational words, I don’t think he was simply instructing us to ask what we can do. He was inviting us to listen and enrich our lives by becoming involved.