The Importance of Action

"Community Action Day is so annoying because now we have Saturday classes." This seemingly innocuous complaint, heard so frequently in the last couple of weeks, overlooks the importance of this day and plays into the misperception about it around campus.Critics of Community Action Day often claim that designating a specific day for "community action" undermines the importance of being involved in the community during the rest of the year. We would argue that this day reminds busy and stressed Exonians, through a hands-on experience, and of the importance of this involvement.It’s too easy, while we’re stuck in the bubble of the Academy,that exists between Main Street, the Stadium, and Las Olas, to think that the Phillips Exeter community is the entire Exeter community. We often fail to recognize that Exeter is greater than us, and it’s greater than our school. It’s important for us to reach out and be part of that greater community. That is what Community Action Day is about: going out there and being a part of that larger community.Within the Academy, there is always talk about non sibi. Good Exonians should exemplify non sibi. Every student that passes through the Academy should learn something about non sibi during their time here. The Academy and all Exonians should act with the spirit of non sibi. But what does non sibi look like? Community Action Day is the only time in the school year that the entire community is engaged in one of our core philosophies. This one day out of our school year is more than speaking about the importance of non sibi;it’s acting on that principle.This week’s assembly speaker, Nicholas Kristof, touched on the importance of action. He spoke about how one of the merits of our generation is that we do not see doing good for the world in terms of broad mandates, like solving world hunger, but in terms of smaller actions that are feasible and make a difference. Community Action Day is our chance to partake in that. We do not set out to end pollution on beaches and in the ocean. We clean a beach--not even an entire beach, but we act. That action is worth more than sitting around and talking about non sibi.The 2013-2014 school year lacks Community Action Day. It’s worthy noting that this decision was not made to compensate for fewer Saturday classes; rather, the potential dates offered are holiday and days-off for public schools and other local businesses. This leads to a shortage of sufficient projects to occupy 1,000 Academy students and several willing faculty for four hours. For returning students, we can remember last year when the majority of Community Action Day choices sounded like Clean Hoyt Hall, Clean Bissell House, Clean Peabody Hall, and Clean Dead-Person’s-Name-Here Hall. Such activities can hardly be said to benefit the wider community. Why, might you ask, were students asked to clean the spotless, pristine Admissions office? Well, last year, CAD fell on a public school holiday.While Hoyt and Peabody are surely parts of our community, mopping the floors of our own hallways does not classify as immersing ourselves in service on the Seacoast. Although ESSO and non sibi emphasize an ongoing commitment to volunteering, Community Action Day serves to remind us of our role in terms of service. Ideally, 100 percent of Exonians would help out in ESSO and other such organizations, but the unfortunate truth is that many don’t. Thus, CAD almost forces them to reevaluate their duties in the community. It’s hard not to feel content and worthy to the local towns after such meaningful service. If we make an effort to look at the day without the negative connotations such as added Saturday classes, we’d actually be able to appreciate it.