In the Boston area, a funny thing happens every holiday season.

If you try to call one of the local soup kitchens or food pantries to inquire about volunteer opportunities, they tell you that they are all booked.

This Christmas, our family was put on a "alternate volunteer list" at one of the local food pantries and told that we would be called if other volunteers cancelled. We were never called. Our family had underestimated the popularity of community service these days in Boston. Voluntarism is also in vogue among Harvard undergraduates. With 52 PBHA committees, 24 independent student-led public service organizations and various service groups with religious affiliations, everyone I know, it seems, puts down the books to give blood, teach SAT prep, dance with fifth graders or raise money for aids victims in Africa. And new community service ideas are always in the make, as one quarter of the community is replaced every year.

Generally, the underlying motives behind this community service boom are genuine, discounting resume builders and medical school sharks, that is.

It might seem obvious that the best and brightest feel obligated, motivated or conditioned to give back.

Yet, our widespread community service participation, on second thought, is more surprising, given other incontrovertible truths about the average Harvard student.

First, we are extremely politically apathetic. Many of us did not even bat an eyelash when we exercised our democratic right by voting for the Undergraduate Council president last month. We clicked a few arrows to register our choices with the same disinterest with which we renew our library books. The election came and went, without an effective debate among students about campus-wide initiatives, structural changes or reform.

Not that national politics fare any better here. Seniors have lived at Harvard during parts of two presidential campaigns. However, Iowa and New Hampshire, debates and conventions…well, you will learn about that in Government 1540, "The American Presidency." A good class.