I haven't been at the National Conference on Volunteering and Service for even 24 hours and already I've heard several mentions about service being cool.
At the Service Nation luncheon, someone questioned, now that service is hip and trendy, how do we keep it that way?
First lady Michelle Obama even stated that service is now cool.
People have been struggling with making things "cool" as long as the idea's been around. Yes, people like Michelle, Matthew McConaughey, and Bon Jovi - all participants of the opening session at NCVS - help make service cool.
But is that really what we want?
One of the themes of this conference is the hope that one day Americans will ask each other, "Where do you serve?" It will be as common as "where do you work?" It will be part of the fabric of our culture.
It will be normal.
As soon as we, as adults, figure out what's cool, then it's a sure sign that it's not going to be cool. (RIP Friendster and My Space profiles.)
Maybe we just need to focus on making service normal. There's nothing wrong with normal. Normal doesn't take thought - it's habitual.
Celebrities rise and fall (and don't get me wrong, I love me some pop culture); trends come and go (I'm starting to get spammed friend requests on Facebook); and cool comes in waves for each generation (hello Transformers and G.I. Joe!). But normal is like going to grocery store; heading to church on sunday morning; ironing shirts for work.
Normal isn't glamorous. I think service only needs to be glamorous to us old folks now so WE have the excitement to instill a habit of service in our children and youth.
I see that young people are already beginning to see energy efficiency as normal; they're beginning to see advocacy as normal; and, with the launch of United We Serve, I think they'll begin to see service to community as normal.
And quite frankly, I think that's pretty darn cool.
