In John Milton’s, Paradise Lost, Satan’s defiant cry, “Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven,” may “serve” as the motto of many 21st Century Americans. Many people just won’t serve the needs of others. For all the tales of service we hear about, the facts are clear that the majority of adults and most recent high school graduates don’t want to or can’t allow themselves to serve their fellow man.

That is why when I heard about a handful of public school teachers from the Waco area spending their summer teaching in foreign lands for no pay, I sat up and took notice.

As an educator, I admit to looking forward to summer as a time for the swimming pool and catching up on my reading. Other teachers take summer jobs to supplement their meager incomes.

So, why go around the globe (China and Uganda, specifically) and live in sometimes squalid conditions for eight weeks for no pay?

I can only surmise that these educators have internalized one of the core values we supposedly teach our students: “Be of service when and where you can.”

All too often we talk of public service when we mean politics or evangelism cleverly disguised as serving.

All too often we talk of public service but teach competition and self service through our school structures instead.

We have pep rallies to promote beating the other high school team from across town but we don’t hold pep rallies to support the Food for Families or Caritas work teams that join with those same kids from the other schools to unload tons of donated food or sort produce for hours at a time.

We teach students to compare themselves to their classmates, and to put their schools up against others.

Why? Not for excellence, but so they can brag or issue putdowns.

Taunting and belittling, sometimes called ”dissing,” has become the coin of the realm.

Why isn’t service to others the currency we all honor?

This summer, Kevin McMahan from Meyer High/Rapoport Academy is teaching high school geography in a village in the highlands of Uganda with no electricity at his school.

Stephanie Ybarra, formerly of Viking Hills Elementary, is teaching reading, also in Uganda.

Linda Talley from University High is working with college students learning English in China.

All are serving their fellow man, creating unity and understanding, not promoting divisiveness and distrust like much of what we do here at home.

I think they all would agree that for them and their students it is better to serve, and that perhaps is in part what heaven is.

Former Waco city councilman Rick Allen is a teacher at Rapoport Academy.