I love volunteering.
My family isn't too excited about the idea; my husband used to not understand; and some of my friends just don't get it. They don't get why I choose to spend the little free time I have on other people.
While other people have their hobbies, I use my free time on volunteering. And I love it. My family's ideas of "me" time include sleeping or watching a movie or pampering yourself. I understand what my family says about taking a break and doing something fun for myself. So I do just that -- I volunteer and I always have a great time doing it.
I'm no Mother Theresa. I sure am far from holy, but I recognized sometime ago that there's nothing wrong with the world. It's the people in it that have a problem. I can whine all I want about how messed up the Boston Marathon bombing was or how the government is too slow figuring out the solution to our gun problems. But I just think it would be a damn shame to waste my talents on complaining. So I choose to be part of the solution even if the only way I could help is to spend some time at a homeless shelter.
I'm not really sure when my love affair with volunteering started. It could be when one of my mentees told me she wanted to go to McDonald's for lunch because she only got to go for birthdays and Christmas (Christmas!). Or it could be when I had to break up a fight between two small boys over one graham cracker. I'm not sure exactly when it hit me, but I knew there was something more I could be doing than sit and watch as the society crumbles.
However, volunteering isn't for everybody. I think it's something you should only do when you know in your heart that it's for you. Don't let other people tell you otherwise. I'm all about getting our youth recognize the importance of helping in the community, but if you shove that to their faces and force them to volunteer, you're just creating another problem. Honestly, if you volunteer for the wrong reasons, you're just making the problem worse.
My goal has always been simple: I want to help someone. To say that I want to change the world is too melodramatic, and frankly, a very exhausting and lofty goal. But if there's even a minute chance that I inspire one person to pay it forward -- to realize that he or she can do something to help out -- then I'd call that a success.
National Volunteer Week is April 21-27. Hats off to the people who are already doing their part to help, however big or small that may be.