I volunteer a few hours weekly for charities and organizations that have personal significance to me; like most, I have a myriad of reasons for doing so.
On one hand, I believe most of our species are “programmed,” as it were, for some degree of altruism. If I was not able to take care of my hypothetical offspring, I would want to be assured that he or she, regardless of location, would be safe and have access to necessary resources. This is similar to the “give-and-receive” idea of charity, which argues that seemingly selfless acts are still, in some regards, selfish-but is this a bad thing? Survival is our basic goal, but due to the evolution of our minds, it is not our only one. Further, it seems intuitively (I don’t have research to back up this statement, though I’m sure it exists) that if the human race as a whole is doing well, then individual humans are more likely to do well; therefore, it is advantageous for the species if everyone is thriving.
Second, volunteering gives me the illusion of a feeling of significance. I know that aiding one or two persons will likely not lead to the bettering of society as a whole, yet the fact that I, an ordinary person, have the power to influence another person’s life in a beneficial way is somewhat astounding (and could be seen as a bit of a power trip!). I am not writing off aiding individuals, however. If enough individuals are helped, a population is helped-and improved, hopefully.
Tying into the above paragraph, the emotional factor of volunteering is very high. I think life is significant; I think it is incredible that humans, as they are, exist, and I think we should take advantage of and appreciate this fact. At times, people do not; they feel (understandably) that life is overwhelming. If, through a small donation of my time and energy, I can make someone else relieved, hopeful, or some other positive thing, then I have sort of passed my ideology onto someone else, hopefully leading to that someone’s enjoyment of life-even if it is temporary (though of course the overarching goal is to make that permanent). We humans have an extremely powerful influence and affect on the emotions of others-why shouldn’t we exercise it for good? I have never experienced this myself, but I imagine that, if I were unsure of my safety or shelter, a donated blanket or bit of food would symbolize and remind me that I was not forgotten and that people thought of me, thus giving hope for chances of an improved life.
I feel contradictory to some degree. I hold romantic ideals of help and change, yet in reality I do very little to bring these about. I spend almost as much time playing on my expensive phone as I do attempting to help my fellow man, and I wonder: Does this make me a hypocrite? How much time should be devoted to personal pleasure, and how much time should be devoted to others? Thankfully I have many years to sort this out.
Finally, in a related note, I despise when I am praised for volunteering. Perhaps people who do so are simply attempting encouragement, but I do not need encouragement. I (as I’m sure most do) choose to do charity work for personal reasons, namely for romantic reasons of spiritual fulfillment. I am not mad at these people as I do not think they mean to offend, but it seems, when I am praised, that the implication is that I am merely volunteering my time to appear altruistic rather than to be it (I’m probably looking for intention when there is none!). My point of this short rant is this: when someone tells you of their volunteer efforts, rather than praise them, express interest in their project. If charity was not exalted (as it seems to be), but rather seen as part of a hobby or other commonplace thing, I think that would be best.
