The concerns and challenges of contemporary society change by the day, and yet remain stubbornly, perhaps even unnervingly, persistent.  The imperatives of social, gender, and racial justice. The urgent, burning platform of climate change. The deepening fissures of income and wealth inequality. The list goes on. 

As new crises emerge, and old ones mutate, the forms, norms, and practices of public service must adapt, evolve, and be transformed.

Public service is a uniquely personal act, whether exercised alone and anonymously or in concert with others and publicly.  Its expression can be fleeting. But its import is enduring. And, most importantly, it is accretive. 

Acts of public service compound. Our communities— whether defined by group identity, common challenges, shared environments, or collective values—will progress toward the kind of just, equitable, opportunity-rich, and healthful future to which we aspire only when our individual acts of service are combined into an alchemy of shared purpose.