How ironical that you could be in a medical emergency at home but lack means of contacting your immediate neighbor for help? How many fresh graduates are intimidated to apply for a job because they lack demonstrable experience? These questions may sound rhetorical because they question everyday phenomena. However, the panacea to these humiliating scenarios that we choose to ignore until they catch up with us lies in one thing, volunteering. When did you last volunteer?
The World has unequivocally become a global village thanks to technology that has simplified business, communication and transport. Paradoxically, we have become engrossed in daily routines so much so we hardly acquaint ourselves with our immediate neighbors. No wonder lives are lost to heart attacks as victims await emergency ambulance services yet the immediate neighbor may have initiated cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
Engaging in volunteer activities such as community clean up or service in a local children’s home brings people together and offers them a chance to not only make new friends but also develop networks. Hence, volunteering in community work suffices as a recipe for socialization, an important element that defines humanity: Social cohesion helps a community efficiently fight common evils while working together for common good leading to a health community.
Conversely, volunteering offers students a perfect opportunity for career exploration. Career exploration is a hallmark of quality education today because it increases chances of having a workforce that has job satisfaction. Unfortunately, few high schools facilitate career exploration, perhaps due to cost implications. This explains why senior students should be encouraged to participate in volunteer programs. Fortunately, various organizations ranging from hospitals to banks offer voluntary opportunities that senior students may utilize for purposes of career exploration.
Besides, volunteering increases the convincing power of a student while applying for admission into college, where they are required to write personal statements convincing the admission board of their suitability in their preferred programs. Additionally, volunteering helps fresh graduates gain professional experience without which it is increasingly becoming difficult to secure jobs. Today, competition among new entrants in the job market due to mass production of graduates coupled with a notion that university education is largely ‘hands-off’ necessitates bridging the skill gap, often via volunteering.
Importantly, whether it is volunteering for skill development, community clean up, orphanage or animal shelter, volunteering confers a sense of accomplishment and raises self-esteem. This is especially so where volunteering is slanted in favor of the recipient community such as in an orphanage. For instance, participating in collection of food donations or mentoring children in an orphanage may help reduce crime rates as all these children will have meaningful course rather than engage in petty stealing for food. Precisely, it is the realization that you contributed to social change and met civil duty that gives you a sense of accomplishment.
Hence, let us all adopt the culture of volunteering. It is beneficial to all and sundry: Besides developing networks, volunteering in the community helps demonstrate active citizenship and meet civil duty of making our society healthier through social change. Most importantly, the unmatched sense of accomplishment is elevating. Conversely, volunteering suffices in career exploration and bridging skills gap for students and fresh graduates. So, let us meet more often at children center, animal shelter and during community clean up.
Work cited
Works Cited
Ahmadi, Homayun. Volunteering. New York: Xlibis corporation, 2010.
Carr, Dawn C. Psychology Today. 12 March 2014. 15 November 2014 <http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-third-age/201403/5-reasons-why-you-should-volunteer>.
Paxton, Will. Any volunteers for the good society? New York: Institute for public policy reserach, 2012.
Powel, Walter W and Richard Steinberg. The non-profit sector: A reserach handbook. Yale: Yale university press, 2006.
