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Volunteers

You know there are many people who devote their time doing volunteer work. Be it charity for orphans, feeding the poor, and so on. I have never done any volunteer work. Not because I am busy but because I believe in karma, and also I think if I spend time with the less fortunate, I  would be too busy pitying them and crying to do much good.

Also I believe in natural selection. Survival of the fittest and all that. I did not always start out this way. More than a decade ago, I tried my hand at volunteering in tutoring a bunch of orphaned kids at a charity home. What I saw were:



  • orphans who lived in better condition than I was (I had a mattress, they had beds, flat screen TV)
  • orphans who were not in the least interested in learning but only in the free color pencils that I bought
  • chaperone/head of house who did not even bother to inform when they couldnt have sessions on that day until I showed up because they wanted to go pasar malam
This actually shaped my opinions about volunteering. Why bother helping people who don't even want to help themselves?

So I focused my effort and skill on karate instead. Teaching karate lessons that charged RM100 a month. When you charge for it, people tend to pay attention and attend more. Now, isnt life weird?

I also have friends who complained about the places where they were volunteering.
About bossy people, being told what to do, disorganized yada yada..
I'd listen but refused to comment in the sake of preserving the friendship.

If you are truly sincere in helping, you only care about the end result.
Not obsess over so and so telling you what to do or you doing more work than others.
I'm sorry, was charity work a competition to see who contributes the most? 

The only charity work I truly believe in are the kind that saves animals (cats and dogs especially).
And even that, there are arguments between these charity organizations accusing each other of using certain dogs for publicity for gain, donation accountability.

What is the common denomination factor? Us. Homo sapiens. We are the problem.

Volunteers Volunteers Reviewed by Surebor on July 23, 2013 Rating: 5

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