Newsday.com: Doing good can do you some good

Newsday.com: Doing good can do you some good: "Doing good can do you some good
August 22, 2005

When I mention to a friend that I am dropping my son off at community service, she looks distressed. 'Is he in trouble?' she asks. Another friend has the same reaction, offering condolences about teenage behavior.

At first I don't get it. My son is fulfilling his high school's community service requirement by volunteering in a soup kitchen. Why would anyone think that's a problem? Then the light dawns. In the age of Jennifer Wilbanks and other white-collar criminals sentenced to volunteer work instead of jail time, community service has become a synonym for punishment. Service has become a dirty word."