The Rent is Due: A 9/11 Reflection

Posted on September 9, 2011. Filed under: Chicago Cares Staff | Tags: 9/11 |

Service is the rent we pay for the privilege of living on this earth.
~ Shirley Anita Chisholm

Today, the rent is due.

Today, we honor the dead by helping the living. Today is a day of remembrance, we pay tribute and do something positive; we serve.

I cannot carry a gun into battle.

I cannot carry an axe into a burning building.

I cannot bring back what is lost.

I cannot convince young men living half a globe away, not to run planes into buildings.

But I am not helpless. There is much I can do.

I can hold out my hand and guide a young man down the block, away from a life of violence, towards a more peaceful path. I can walk alongside him as he travels.

I can make a meal.

I can pack a bag of groceries.

I can renovate a school library.

I can participate in a neighborhood watch.

I can read to a child.

I can play BINGO with a Senior.

I can paint a classroom.

I can build a house.

I can serve.

I cannot undo what happened ten years ago, but today I can do something about tomorrow. I can volunteer, it is the most powerful thing I can do.

Service is the rent we pay for the privilege of living on this earth. And today, the rent is due.

Today’s post is written by Associate Executive Director, Kris Smart.