I ask this simple question to see what some of you are doing with any down time you may have. I personally love helping others and giving back. My heart is huge when it comes to people less fortunate than myself...and for that matter, people more fortunate than me. If someone needs help, I want to help them any way I can. It feels good for my inner peace. There have been times when I needed help, and the gratitude I feel for those people that stepped in, as strangers, to lift me back up, is unwavering. The love and joy I feel being able to give back...impacting someone else's life for the better, in a way that I know my life has also been touched is irreplaceable.
Yes, back when I was trying to fatten up my college application. Did hospital volunteer work for about a year and a half. Ancient history at this point, but boy do I still remember how utterly depressed I was upon seeing all the sick and frail elderly patients on the first day. Live your life to the fullest folks, because one day in the future, we'll all end up bedridden and dependent on acne infested high school kids to wheelchair us to a CAT scan appointment.
I did some after hurricane Ike. To be honest, the first day, I was resume padding. My parents kinda forced me to go. But then, I went again for the rest of the week because I really did enjoy it. Kinda weird how that turned out, but it just was... uplifting. I don't know. I can't really describe it, to be honest. I do a lot of community service with my fraternity now. After we sing our racist songs, and kill a pledge during hazing (joking on both), we head on over to do stuff.
I did a lot of it in high school, for both myself and for my resume. However, whenever I did do it, I loved it. Just the feeling of impacting a stranger's life in the slightest way made me feel pretty good. As a teenager, that's a pretty new experience. I spend ~150 hours at West Houston Medical Center, and various other programs. I honestly wish that I could continue it today, but the processes of my brain force me to believe that time used for volunteering could be time used for studying for classes. And I guess I can't argue against that. But I do hope I'm successful enough in life to have the time to continue it after college.
Volunteered at a church back in high school to resume pad. Did some random volunteering mainly for friends that asked. I'm not going to sit here and lie that I still want to volunteer but can't because I don't have time. I'm just lazy and selfish. I do have classes to study for, but I could easily make time to volunteer if I wished.
Yes, I was ordered to after I robbed and stole. And I kidnapped the president's son and held him for ransom. And I Never got caught neither.
Thank you for your honesty RedRedemption. I guess it's a "want to" attitude that has given me a purpose to continue what I've started. Keep the comments coming!
I have volunteered a handful of times and never felt particularly rewarded. Does volunteering make you think more of yourself or are you happy to help people? I never felt better about myself because the work I was doing was insignificant. The most time I have dedicated was to inner city elementary students as a tutor... Those kids were nasty, both to me and each other. I've also volunteered at a women's center and a couple of shelters. I'm sure your work is actually productive.
Career civil servant by choice for the same reasons you stated in the original post. Thirty years in varying state social services positions.
I organized and ran some Christmas toy drives with my mustang club when I had that going on. Does that count?
