Why Public Service?

Well, I'm wrapping up the internship this week and I've been thinking. Some of the comments after the last post also got me thinking. A couple of the comments pointed out how busy my schedule has been recently, especially when you factor in family stuff. To recap, this semester: I have worked an internship and gone to school full time, my wife is in school full time and also has an internship, we have kids ages 4 (almost 5), 3 (just turned), and 10 days old. During this time I also had to find a job (which I did, stay tuned for details) in a relatively tough job market. And to top things off in the last few weeks/into next week we've had: a child born, my graduation, my wife's killer final week of school, the end of both our internships, our anniversary, my birthday, mothers day, and we are now in preparation to move for my new job.

So why do I bring that up, and what does it have to do with public service? Well, for those who talked about balancing their schedule it's really not that hard. Let me explain, and those of you with kids will relate. When my daughter was born (our first) we got a card from my sister-in-law implying that we had a new boss... and that is more true than a lot of people like to admit. Parents are still supposed to be in control, but I think the key is that your time is no longer your own and is now devoted to a "better purpose".

It boils down to this. Think of the top three things you like to do in your spare time. These can be spending time with friends, books, music, movies/tv, video games, sports, etc... Now take all that time and fill it with feeding a baby, rocking it to sleep, changing its diapers, running errands, and the list goes on. The things you "like to do" are now replaced by the things you "have to do" and if you can't do that (in my opinion) you're either going to change your ways or be a crummy parent.

Stay with me for this because this might be a stretch, and this is just what's in my mind so you can agree or not, either way. To me, public service can be a little similar. I chose to do public service knowing it would have certain challenges and disadvantages when compared with private sector work. I won't list those things because you've probably heard many of them. If your going into public service and you've told anyone you want to work for government I'm sure you've gotten "the look" at least once. The look that says, "ah, one of those" or "couldn't hack it in the real world" looks.

I choose to believe that public work provides opportunities, especially at a local level, to positively impact people and their lives. I'm not saying public sector requires sacrifice of your favorite hobbies, more that their is a parallel of sacrificing certain things to parent just like sacrifices to work in the public sector.

One specific gripe I will voice as I wrap this up, is the tendency of private sector folks to look down on the public sector, as in "close enough for government work." I say to those people... get over yourself and get real. Can you imagine if business were under even a fraction of the scrutiny of government right now? I work with individuals in the City of Peoria who impress me everyday with their intelligence, ability, and dedication. It must be really easy to judge others work habits when you know that your own will never be called into question outside a performance review, much less on the local news. It will become a self-fulfilling prophesy that if you call government employees stupid/incompetent enough that they will be... because no one with a brain or any ability will want to work in public service. I choose public service because I'm looking for fulfillment that not many jobs offer, not because I can't find work elsewhere.

I hope for those of you in a similar career plan as mine that you will be proud of your choice.