Here’s a true story: My hometown friend Theresa comes from a family of modest means. She has four younger siblings, and the youngest is severely developmentally delayed. For as long as I’ve known her, she’s been laden with family responsibilities, but, lately, her role as the eldest of five has grown substantially. Why? Theresa’s father has been in Iraq for the past eight months, and he will stay there for the next five months. After two weeks leave he will then ship off for another six months overseas.

A May 2007 report by the Joint Economic Committee of Congress reads, “[A]ccording to the Department of Defense, in September 2006, approximately 230,000 children had a parent in Iraq, Afghanistan, or the Horn of Africa.”

Where are all of the young volunteers without children ready to serve our country? I’m not saying the lives of these soldiers are any less valuable, but when Theresa’s dad had to leave his family behind to serve in Iraq, alongside the countless fathers and mothers whose families have been broken by this war, I started to wonder whether there is something wrong with our system of voluntary service.

Here’s another true story:

When I spent nine months in Israel last year, I rarely got to spend time with my cousin Noa because, at age 18, she was busy serving in an intelligence unit in the Israeli Defense Force. No, she’s not serving as a combat soldier like many of her peers, but Noa is doing her part to serve her country along with nearly every Israeli between the ages of 18 and 21.

Israelis our age may not be crazy about their army tenure, but they graciously accept their mandatory service, as it is unequivocally vital to the survival and prosperity of their homeland. The need is easier for them to see, as their conflicts are right in their backyard. There are Israelis who do not serve in the IDF for religious or other reasons, but many of them complete at least one year of national service, serving their country by volunteering in youth villages, kibbutzim and schools across the country.

Our wars are thousands of miles away, so unless we feel personally threatened, of course it’s hard for many of us – myself included – to feel the urgency of joining the military. But what about when we see our cities and towns gray and dirty, and littered with poverty, homelessness, drugs and crime? When we witness our schools understaffed and financially neglected? Those are wars to be fought at home, not with guns, tanks and bombs, but with our precious time and energy.

Yes, many young Americans are joining up after college with organizations like Teach for America, and it’s great. We should all consider committing time, whether by serving in the military or by joining service programs like AmeriCorps or the Peace Corps to do each of our small parts in protecting and improving the country and the world we live in.

And for those understandably concerned about how they would afford serving – a real daily fear for thousands of servicemen and women – most programs like AmeriCorps and the Peace Corps provide loan deferment, a stipend, health benefits while you serve, as well as a monetary education award after service is completed.

Could it take a mandate to make us realize the importance of voluntary national service?

We should not need our government to force us to stop taking our freedom, safety and prosperity for granted. Each day children see their parents off to wars that should never have been started, people here and all over the world suffer from poverty and homelessness, our national parks become more littered and our cities become dirtier.

A year or two of service, whether military or otherwise, should not be made mandatory for young Americans. But military families like Theresa’s and those who volunteer in service programs cannot be the only ones who make sacrifices.

John F. Kennedy had the right idea: Each day, as citizens of this country and the world, we should all take a step back and consider not what we could do, but what each of us personally plans to do about the challenges we face while we have the privilege to do so voluntarily.

Ali Adler is a freshman journalism major. She can be reached at aliadler@umd.edu.