Just the other day in Sherman Dining Hall, I stood in front of the dessert table, agonizing over which cupcake to claim. While the vanilla frosting has its merits, who can ever refuse chocolate? And Jason, our wonderful omelet/stir-fry/pasta chef, doesn't make it any easier with all of his delicious sauces and toppings to choose from. And that's just the cafeteria! I'm not even going to get into class shopping; there is literally not enough ink to cover the subject. Do I prefer Chemistry or Computer Science? Akkadian or Greek? All are seemingly life-changing dilemmas.

Here's what I'm trying to say: in my first two weeks at Brandeis, I have noticed that much of what I do involves taking. I can take classes. I can take food from the cafeteria. I can take advice from my academic adviser. I can take information about 50 different clubs at the activities fair. But whatever happened to giving?

Brandeis University prides itself on advocating social justice. It seems somewhat ironic, then, that Brandeis does not push harder for its talented students to live up to the mantra of social welfare.

In order to comply with this ever-present mantra, the University should require community service in order for its students to graduate. For, let's say, two hours a week for just one semester, we should go out into the Boston area and do something charitable. There wouldn't be grades, papers or professors. We could even choose what we want to do.

And because it would be a University requirement, no one would be able to stray away from it. We are required to take classes across a variety of disciplines and even required to take physical education. Brandeis's goal is to mold us into well-rounded human beings. Shouldn't community service be a contributor to the molding process?

True, there are a number of different community service options on campus. And I'm sure many people sign up for a variety of clubs. But by no means do enough members of the student population partake in these activities. If we all stopped for a moment, and just looked around at our environment, we would see that we live in a very selfish community.

Don't get me wrong: I don't mean to insult our University. Really, most colleges in the world are like this. These are the formative years of our lives; it is important that we take time to, well, take. By taking time to make ourselves better people, we will be able to have a greater impact on the world around us. It's a productive version of selfishness.

With that said, I still believe that all Brandeis students need to try, and maybe even be required every once and a while, to escape this selfish mindset. It's only through acts of selflessness that we can truly get a sense of the world around us. Through community service we can, for a brief moment, catch a glimpse of what life is like outside the conveniences of living in our little Brandeis bubble.

Selflessness is difficult. Because the truth is, most of us really enjoy taking. When push comes to shove, we aren't all too motivated to act. And if we do, many times it is primarily for our own personal satisfaction and secondarily for others.

We are not bad people for not always wanting to help others. We are pretty normal people in this regard. But let's try to be something more-especially because we chose to attend a university that makes social justice one of its central principles. While we use these four years to make ourselves better people, let's honestly, generously and selflessly give a little in the process.