Why Volunteerism?

Photo credit: Jyothi Nair

The very first question that I was asked after starting this blog was “why volunteerism?”.

My interest in exploring further into this subject roots in my personal experiences. When I graduated from high school, I hardly knew about volunteering. Neither my teachers, nor my mentors mentioned about it. The education system never taught me the significance of volunteering and its benefits. Whenever I look back, I wonder about the importance of creating a volunteering culture. Later, knowing and experiencing volunteerism made me realize that in a civil society, volunteerism is of great significance. The quote by Marianne Williamson, which is also highlighted under my blog tittle, cuts the long story short. “In every community, there is work to be done. In every nation, there are wounds to heal. In every heart, there is the power to do it.” This is one of my favorite quotes. It powerfully captures the significance of volunteerism.

Especially in communities where the government falls behind in efficient provision of services ,volunteerism is a great resource for making necessary social advancements. If we just look around, we will find voluntary workers in almost every field ranging from education to politics. It is because there are many different reasons to volunteer. Not only the community benefits from such actions, the actors (volunteers) also benefit from it. Why do you think the companies that hire skilled workers also look into the candidates’ voluntary experiences? The only reason behind it is that these experiences help the volunteers in developing and enhancing the skills and abilities necessary to succeed in a civil society. It makes them a stronger candidate.

In last five years, I got the opportunity to involve in a couple of voluntary works, especially in the fields of education and environmental issues. Thanks to liberal arts education system. In the process, I also got to interact with other volunteers. The unique aspect of being a volunteer is that they realize and experience the power of their heart and thereby stand out with their special ability in inspiring others. Apart from all these benefits and mental satisfaction, volunteers can also improve physical health and cognitive abilities. I was quite amazed by this report published by the corporation for National and Community Service.

While talking about the inspirational volunteers, we must also be aware that the interests behind volunteering can be questioned. When selfless volunteerism does exist, there are also volunteers who provide services for material benefits (title, certificates, etc.). The reasons behind those interests are obvious. As I mentioned earlier these titles make you a stronger candidate in the competitive capitalistic markets. One might also argue that the interests behind volunteering does not matter if their actions lead to social advancements.

Personally I feel that it is high time to encourage a volunteering culture, especially in communities with economically impoverished sections. The process has already started. In past couple of years, number of volunteers have drastically increased. At the same time, one might also wonder if the heart of volunteerism will be able to compete with our busy and competitive lifestyle.

The uniqueness of volunteerism is that once you realize the power of your heart, you cannot stop yourself from using it. (Can it be weakened by our busy and competitive lifestyle?....need to explore further!)

Defining "VOLUNTEERism"

source: http://tinyurl.com/cbehvlr

What actually is “Volunteerism”? The word which is used since 1844 is defined in dictionary.com (our primary source of definitions) as the policy or practice of volunteering one’s time or talents for charitable, educational, or other worthwhile activities, especially in one’s community. This particular definition made me think twice. On one hand, it is not a complete definition as “volunteering” is used to define “volunteerism”. What is volunteering? Who is a Volunteer? On the other hand, I was not quite comfortable with the very last part of the definition; especially in one’s community. Is that actually relevant in defining volunteerism? Does it matter which community I am volunteering in? How is the volunteerism involved in the act of me working in my community different from that of me working in a different community?

As I was not persuaded by the definition, I looked it up on online oxford dictionary which defines "Volunteerism" as the use or involvement of volunteer labor, especially in community services.  This definition seemed to be a better one. Though both of the above definitions does emphasize on ‘community’ service, there is a slight difference in their meanings. The former definition stresses on "one's" community, while the later does not. However, I was not quite satisfied with this definition either as this one seemed to be incomplete as well.

The fact that I am not an expert in this field pulls me back from interpreting and nuancing these definitions beyond a certain extent.

That is when I decided to go a bit deep into the word, to define it by defining its roots – “volunteer” and “ism”. Oxford dictionary defines “volunteer” as a person who does a job willingly without being paid for it and “ism” refers to a set of ideas or system of beliefs or behavior. Putting both of them together, we can read “Volunteerism” as a system of beliefs or behavior related to people who do a job or service willingly without being paid for it.

For the time being, I would prefer this definition over the other two. But, at the same time, I do believe that we might be able to nuance it in a better way after exploring further into the real world of volunteerism. During this journey, feel free to contribute your ideas and interpretations, because the shoot of social knowledge always sprouts out from sharing, interpreting and questioning.