Today I thought: What if parking tickets could be paid with community service?

I once received a $70 parking ticket in San Francisco. To me this is no chump change and I wonder about the consequence of someone who can’t afford it. Could that cause someone with two jobs already to take an extra shift and in turn force them away from time with their family? Money is a contributing factor of stability in our lives and we all have a different amount of it. This means its value to each of us is different. (If you question this statement, I invite you to play Monopoly with my ruthless, tycoon-minded older brother as he is gleefully building hotels, and you are praying your money holds out until Baltic Avenue.)

With this in mind, another resource comes to mind for paying for these transgressions. Something we all have to give. Time. Why can’t we pay with community service hours? Our time is valuable and when focused towards the community can be impactful.

I am not here to argue logistics, but I want to focus on how it can change a negative event into a potentially positive force. Yes, we will still be guilty of eye rolling as we grab the piece of paper on our car; but staying angry will be difficult when we receive thanks from those we help. I believe this could also help promote a sense of ownership in one’s community, which goes much further than paying off a single ticket.

Someone may point out a choice of words above:

Could that cause someone with two jobs already to take an extra shift and in turn force them away from time with their family?

“Hey Tony, you still have the problem of taking away time from their family.” This is true if you think that repayment needs to be done by that person only.

Let’s say that a parking ticket could be “paid off” with 3 hours of community service. What if we allowed a family to pay off those hours together. So a family of 3 would all donate 1 hour a piece, preferably together as a family outing. This may teach kids not all burdens need to be carried individually, and exposing them to a community larger than just their next door neighbor.

This is a hopeful idea, I know, but it is also thoughtful and I bring it up with the best of intentions. I don’t mind paying the money personally, I just question whether it helps make a difference like service to others can.

I’ll leave you with one parting quote from C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity:

Good things as well as bad, you know, are caught by a kind of infection. If you want to get warm you must stand near the fire: if you want to be wet you must get into the water. If you want joy, power, peace, eternal life, you must get close to, or even into, the thing that has them.

This is at the heart of why I think this idea could work. If more people had to donate their time, they would feel the satisfaction of giving. Maybe it will humble the souls of those who feel their time is too valuable to give, or maybe this causes them to catch the infection, that will push them to give even more.