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Volunteerism
5 December 2005Dictionary.com says that volunteer means:
1. To perform or offer to perform a service of one’s own free will.
2. To do charitable or helpful work without pay.
Prasad blogged about volunteerism and there were a lot of comments thrown around in the comment box, so I figured I might as well blog about it instead. Nono, this has nothing to do with the Ooo’s and Aah’s that came from seeing local celebrities in this comment box. I don’t wanna write about my extreme jealousy. Heh. :P j/k
Maybe it does have a tiny bit to do with a celeb-comment, the well-known local theatre guy commented that volunteerism is close to extinction, that people only do something if it’s worth something. It is sad isn’t it, that people nowadays are more “for themselves” than ever. The idea of doing something for another seems absolutely stupid. Hey, what do I have to gain? I say, yeah, there is a lot to gain from volunteer work. The experience of doing something different, the exposure to a side of community you were never aware of otherwise and of course, the sense of satisfaction when you know you’ve made a difference, that you have helped. Aren’t these enough “gain” you get from a little volunteering?
There are several factors which work together and make volunteering meaningful. Firstly, you have to believe in what you are doing. Second, it has to be voluntary and not forced, or a “minimum requirement” you have to fulfill.
Walk along Orchard Road on a Saturday afternoon (ok, Singaporean example here, but I couldn’t think of any better ones. This post is largely a hybrid MY-SG context post.) and you will see a lot of secondary/JC students walking around, with tins (or bags), selling flags. Next time, instead of making a donation and walking off with the tiny sticker, ask them “what does this organisation do?” “what will the money go into?” and you will most probably meet blank faces or get some generic crappy answers. Do these students even know what they are doing? Do they find any meaning in doing this? How do you find meaning in holding a tin under the blazing hot sun, collecting money for a cause you don’t know about?
Then there is the bit about it not being forced, like.. duh.. there is a reason it’s known as “volunteer work” and not “compulsory service”, you know. It has to be out of a person’s own free will. My reasoning is simple, people don’t like to be forced to do something, and the idea of being “forced” brings about a negative impression of the subject. Many approach it with the “get it over and done with” mentality. If you force someone to help out at a particular NGO and he/she wants to “get it over and done with”, what meaning will he/she get out of it? And how much will he/she want to find out about it?
There will be those out there who feel that forcing students to do community service in the long run will make it “part of their lifestyle” and to that, I say… “yeah, rrriiiggghhhtt” You force me to do something, I don’t know much about it and want to just finish it, and you expect me to make it a lifestyle thing??? Errr… a bit idealistic eh? I think it’s important to encourage young people to volunteer, maybe “forcing” them into it will help with the exposure bit and along the way, one out of the hundreds will decide that it’s meaningful, but maybe education will be the way to go. And if you have to force a teenager to volunteer, at least make sure he/she knows what/who he/she is helping.
IMU students have to make one pathetic compulsory community service trip in the beginning of Sem1, and many of us have had enough exposure to such activities to know that it’s a meaningful thing to do (hence the earlier points don’t apply) and we don’t really feel “forced and the uni (or is it the seniors) do provide us with a background of the home we’re going to (or maybe it’s just that my groupmates were rajin). Many a times, groups leave the home thinking that they want to make it a regular thing but somehow, that never happens. I guess this is because when lessons start and we’re plunged into the hell called medical school, we get too busy and miserable to feel any love or compassion for anyone. At least until holidays come and elective postings seem a good time to contribute a little to society and we sometimes combine the two.
But…
Well, if we cannot spare the time to go down to homes and help out, why not “help” in another way. Yup, monetary aid is important as well. Things like a small donation towards a cause you believe in, or giving your old (and wearable) clothes to the Pakistan earthquake thing or giving a little towards the Tsunami fund… In our little (no time otherwise) ways, we can contribute too.
I started composing this post a few days back… coincidentally, the day when the post is ready is also International Volunteer Day. Just read it on MMR. Heh.
The point of this post? *shrug* I don’t know. This is a good example of what happens when YP gets carried away writing about a topic she feels strongly about. Heh. I know I don’t make much sense, but err… give chance lah
on December 5th, 2005 at 7:59 pm
Charity starts at home.
Help those who help/raise you,
then help those you can see,
then only help those you can’t see.
And most of the times, the final part is where you are judged and seen by other people,not the ealier two.
Hmm….am I selfish?
on December 5th, 2005 at 9:40 pm
i don’t agree with the “don’t force people” bit. this generation is far too sheltered and the one and only way for us to be exposed to the benefits of volunteering is to be forced into doing it.
if singapore didn’t make the 12 hrs of CIP compulsory, there would be far less young people being involved in volunteer work. ok, fine, my observations are only based on the people around me, but most of my friends only discovered the joys of contributing time and money to a cause they care about because we had to do those 12 hours. and they’re now making volunteer work part of their lives, even in uni.
in reality though, the only people who would really bother to take the initiative to try out volunteering are the ones who want to fatten up their CVs in order to get into prestigious unis.
so i’m all for forcing students to take part in volunteering activities. maybe not flag day (though it teaches volumes about the necessity of being thick-skinned). i found the home visit to the red crescent home for the disabled in j1 an eye-opening experience, and it got my whole civics group excited about organising a visit to MINDS.
i seriously don’t think anyone would have thought about it had my college not arranged for the compulsory visit to the red crescent home.
on December 6th, 2005 at 2:26 am
lishun, red cross, my friend.. red cross home for the disabled. :P
anyway… consider the difference in the impact of forcing 13 yr old kids without first educating them.. and that of forcing JC students who are (supposed to be, at least) more mature.
on December 7th, 2005 at 11:28 am
lishun said: “in reality though, the only people who would really bother to take the initiative to try out volunteering are the ones who want to fatten up their CVs in order to get into prestigious unis”
sad, but true. while i was in college, teaching staff who were overseeing our uni apps encourages(more forced really) us to take part in community service activites(especially those who wanted to sell their souls to medicine) because it’d look better on our applications. and to be quite honest, they did, and in some cases(i think) that was what made the difference.
which is even more depressing because helping people should be second nature to us, not an achievement we can list down. an impressive uni application would be one where the applicant doesn’t have the space to list down the volunteer work he/she has done :)