I'm here at the First Service Nation Summit at Columbia University in New York City; expected in a few minutes is Governor David Paterson. After the governor, at 8pm Eastern, Senators Barack Obama and John McCain will be taking the stage to talk about the idea of service (watch the livecast here).

We have come to understand service not as something entered into with iron bounds, but willingly, in many cases, without significant reimbursement. Our rulers don't speak of their power; they cloak it in the lofty language not of dominion, but of aid rendered, lives eased, deeds done for the common good. Just as our rulers do not rule, our soldiers do not fight, they serve, as do our guardians of public order. The motto of the NYPD, for example, is To Protect and Serve.

The discussion today will take place in an environment characterized by imposing imperial architecture, not something one would normally associate with the idea of service; I write this from the grand marble hall of the Low Library, beneath a century-old Roman dome.

Outside, however, is a crowd of eager youth, the students of Columbia, the fresh young face of contemporary America. Inside the hall, our society's powerful speak about service; but it's those young people of every ethnic, religious, class or infinitely variegated other backgrounds, who will provide it.