I know how/why I got into officiating. Played intramural touch football my freshman year of college. When the season was over, I thought to myself, "I can do a better job of officiating than those guys, and get paid to stay involved with football, rather than playing for nothing." So, my sophomore year I got started officiating. After my junior year, I jumped into the local HS association, and the rest is history, as they say.
But, if the question is why did/do I continue to officiate, honestly, if I knew the answer to that, I probably wouldn't do it. It dang sure isn't the money (although my FBS days were reasonably profitable). For a struggling college kid, the $3 per game was sweet. Then the $12.50 per game for varsity was even better. After I got out of school, the money was just nice pocket change (at least until I got to FBS). Now, I'm back to it being just nice pocket change. I might not do it if I didn't get paid, but I am certainly not doing it "for the money."
I know I like the challenge of doing things right and well. I love the folks I work with. I retired once, but got bored, so I jumped back in. I'm not gonna blow smoke and say that I do this "for the kids." I do this for me. But the job is to do justice to the game, and to the players - be they kids or adults, and that I take very seriously.
Culture change within the sport is starting to make this more challenging, but I'm still hangin' in there. I suspect I'll be finally retired before the culture gets totally out of hand. But, for the time being, leading my crew onto the field, guiding them in their quests to 'get better' (a never ending quest for all of us, by the way), and working each game with the highest degree of integrity that I can possibly offer brings great personal satisfaction.
Well, there it is. I guess I do know why I continue to do this, after all.