In this day and age where everyone seems to be busy with their lives so much that none of us find enough time for everything that we would like to. In many ways, we have overcomplicated many facets of our lives so much that we sometimes lose that touch with reality.
People who are privileged to go through the education system are also trained to prepare themselves for the corporate work life, where no one has time for no one. In this rush, people tend to develop an indifference to many things around them. They tend to develop a sort of one-track mind on most of the issues they are surrounded with.
During this rush, many people don’t recognize the exact opportunity volunteer work offers. The very skills and traits that most people run after to develop – interpersonal skills, confidence, passion and compassion, audacity, vision and a sense of connection with the audience – are all very well developed through volunteering. Some people I have met tell me that it’s such a waste of time that it should be avoided or that we’re always so busy that we can’t just volunteer now. On asking further, I have mostly come to know it is usually those people who have never volunteered themselves for any cause.
When we volunteer for the first time, we have different views on it depending on at which age we start to volunteer, the volunteer opportunity being in our area of interest and our other responsibilities. In my opinion, one should start volunteering with the leading organizations at an early age. Scouting could also be a great start for young ones, as this exposes you the real world in a protected environment. People who have volunteered a lot know about the range of different organization types, organizational hierarchies and functions and they get to connect with people in the same area of interest who also have an urge to share their time and abilities without any commercial end in mind. I would say you could get very good friends and contacts by volunteering since you would meet people from all walks of life and unlike commercial organizations where hierarchies dictate who’s senior, dedication, commitment and hard work differentiates volunteers from the rest in the club. Moreover, one can learn a lot of managerial abilities by volunteering their time – the earlier you start doing it, you would realize the better it turns out to be.
Beyond all these reasons, the most important reason is that the experience where you get to help people, develop compassion and learn to appreciate the diversity and problems of others around you. This is a very humbling experience in itself and I think, it’s a reason enough to volunteer!