Email This to a Friend
How Volunteerism Became Un-American
It used to be that many Americans felt a need to "give back." Today, volunteer organizations face a worrisome manpower shortage.
I read with interest the Pajamas Media article by David J. Rusin entitled “Most Likely to Succeed — And Serve, and Sacrifice” over Memorial Day weekend, debunking the myth that only ignorant, downtrodden types join the military today because they have no other options.
When I got to the comments section, one by a reader named Don jumped out at me. He said, in part:
The trouble with 21st century America is one of obligation and good faith. The drive seems to be to (with this cult of self “uber alles”) fragment us. With no “greater good” for us to feel an obligation we have generation(s) whose sole motivation seems self and self stimulation. The few who do feel that obligation the majority owe much to (and don’t seem to realize it).
Don was referring specifically to military service, but I believe that his observation is relevant to American society in more ways than one. It used to be that many Americans felt a need to “give back” by way of volunteering within the community, but volunteer organizations of all stripes and colors are feeling the pinch of what Don aptly describes as “generation(s) whose sole motivation seems self and self stimulation.”
The impression I get of late (and this is just an impression, mind you, not hard scientific fact) is that people today tend to ask, “What’s in it for me? What will I get out of it?” before committing themselves and their time to something. John F. Kennedy said in his 1961 inaugural address, “Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.” Or town, or community, or otherwise fill-in-the-blank. Have we really forgotten those words of wisdom in just one generation?
Obviously not all of it can be attributed to personal selfishness. Part of it has to do with busy work schedules and the fact that within the last 30 or 40 years, more women — who used to do more volunteering than men — are working full time, leaving them less time to be class moms, Girl Scout leaders, Cub Scout den mothers, and what-have-you. A 2001 study also attributes the decline to increased television viewing, an aging population, and income disparity.
But these days, even when people aren’t working, many prefer to be lounging at home or out pursuing personal hobbies and interests rather than toiling for no pay and sometimes unappreciative beneficiaries (more about that shortly). Many would prefer to write a check rather than donate time and effort to a cause.
Organizations such as the Scouts (Girl and Boy), religious organizations, and all-volunteer fire and EMT departments are among those feeling the pinch. I found a number of online articles about there being fewer volunteers for small-town fire departments, like this one regarding the problem in Kansas, where volunteer firefighters are a “dying breed” in part because of the volunteers’ work schedules. And in Greenwich, Connecticut, one man attributes the phenomenon in part to “the loss of interest in volunteerism.”
I’ve been a Girl Scout leader for the past ten years and can attest to the difficulty that this organization has in finding people to fill leadership roles. The waiting list in my town is quite large due to the lack of available adult volunteers, meaning that many girls who would benefit from the programs that Girl Scouts has to offer will ultimately miss out on the opportunity.
The volunteer crunch is also being felt in groups like community theaters, where people are presumably getting together to do something they enjoy, and therefore it seems strange that fewer people are getting involved. Again, I’ve been involved in such a group for ten years and have seen the board of directors of my theater dwindle by nearly half — from 14 to just eight active members. Additionally, while there are plenty of people who want to act onstage, when it comes to finding “behind the scenes” people like lighting board operators, stage managers, and backstage assistants, there is always a mad dash to find enough warm bodies. And while it’s somewhat comforting to know that it’s not just my group that is lacking for personnel (it’s a common problem for many other community theaters in my general area), it’s also distressing to know that the problem seems to be spreading.
Part of the problem may be that volunteers just don’t feel appreciated. Many of us have been to kiddie sports games (soccer, baseball, hockey, etc.) where parents complain to the coach if little Timmy doesn’t get enough time at bat or young Betsy’s ball passing skills aren’t being honed properly. Who wants to spend a lot of time and effort with someone else’s child, only to be criticized for your pains? A friend of mine recently told me how she and another mom who volunteered for a Park and Rec girl’s basketball team this past year were cornered by one girl’s father after they lost a particular game. He had plenty of advice for them on how they should have coached the team, blah blah blah, but was he the one volunteering his time and effort to make sure the girls had fun while learning about team spirit and sportsmanship? The kicker is that this man had played pro basketball in his younger days. Sadly, this encounter soured both women, and neither is planning on volunteering again next year.
Not all parents are this obnoxious, of course. Most are grateful to those who take the time to share expertise and enthusiasm with their children. Unfortunately, it only takes a few bad apples to spoil the proverbial barrel.
It would be interesting to know how much this lack of enthusiasm for volunteerism can be attributed to the increasing insularity of individuals from society. Most of us no longer spend our leisure time on our front porches chatting with neighbors or at community functions, but indoors in front of the television, video game console, or the Internet. In addition, as our society becomes increasingly transient, it’s probably hard for individuals to get excited about putting time and effort into an organization that they may end up leaving in just a few years’ time.
I’m not pretending to have all of the answers. Volunteerism is a very personal thing, and not everyone fits neatly into the categories I’ve enumerated above. Still, volunteer work is an important part of society. It helps bond community members together, and the results can be very rewarding. While donating money to causes is all well and good, time spent volunteering in any capacity ultimately benefits the person who gives of their time most of all.
Pam Meister is the editor for Family Security Matters and a contributor to Big Hollywood. Her work can also be seen at American Thinker. The views expressed here are her own.
 |
 |
 |
Podcasts |  PJM Home |
Pajamas Media appreciates your comments that abide by the following guidelines:
1. Avoid profanities or foul language unless it is contained in a necessary quote or is relevant to the comment.
2. Stay on topic.
3. Disagree, but avoid ad hominem attacks.
4. Threats are treated seriously and reported to law enforcement.
5. Spam and advertising are not permitted in the comments area.
The clause regarding "hate speech" has been deleted because readers criticized it as being too loosely defined. We agreed.
These guidelines are very general and cannot cover every possible situation. Please don't assume that Pajamas Media management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment. We reserve the right to filter or delete comments or to deny posting privileges entirely at our discretion. If you feel your comment was filtered inappropriately, please email us at story@pajamasmedia.com.
40 Comments
1. Ardsgaine:Perhaps it became “un-American” when people started calling it “giving back” as if we’ve taken something that wasn’t ours, and now we have to give it back.
Jun 3, 2008 - 3:55 am 2. RE:This follows the same trend as in Europe. People will increasingly offload personal responsibility and a sense of obligation to the nanny state, where it is a bureaucracy’s job to take care of the problem.
Jun 3, 2008 - 5:25 am 3. Dave:THis isn’t hard.
Socialism, as advocated by the left, puts government in the position of charity. THat means when people pay their taxes, they confidently presume their charitable obligations are paid in full, and it’s the government’s problem.
Between everyone having to work to pay ten times the income tax level of fifty years ago and everyone believing charity is the government’s job, it’s no wonder real charities are suffering.
But did you see how much money and help went to Katrina? It’s not like americans have forgotten how to help, they just think they ARE helping by paying taxes.
Government is the most inefficient and corrupt charity that ever lived. Sad they’ve now got almost a monopoly on charity.
Jun 3, 2008 - 6:12 am 4. WTK:I think this also points to the litigious nature of our current society. Who wants to volunteer only to have Sally’s mom sue you when Sally falls and scratches her knee during a field trip or, horror of horrors, sexual assault for some innocent act.
Jun 3, 2008 - 6:15 am 5. Mike:People are perceiving a feeling of being manipulated, used and being had by the lying polititians on both sides. Most volunteer organizations on a national or international level exhist soley for the purpose of promoting the celebrities associated with them. Think Madonna, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, et al. UGGH! Very little aid actually reaches the poor or starving kids they parade shamlessly on tv. Remember the 300 lb, Sally Struthers bemoaning international Hunger? Laughable.
Jun 3, 2008 - 6:46 am 6. crusader coyote:While I agree with the above writers, I think there are many variables at play. One, I think from my experience, is that the forced volunteerism by the school system in order to graduate sours many young people on the whole idea. Hint: It’s not volunteering if you otherwise won’t be allowed to graduate. Teens are cynical enough as it is, of course they’ll take a rather dim view of having to provide free labor while they’re trying to figure out how to pay for college. And yes, many teens have to find ways to pay for themselves, on top of trying to get student loans, grants and scholarships.
Second, there’s the matter of time. Used to be (so I hear) that a bachelor’s degree meant something. Now, not one of my friends from undergrad isn’t going to school at least part-time for a masters or doctorate while working full time. Granted, that leaves some hours left in the week, usually devoted to laundry, cleaning the apartment, and other necessary chores. We do what we can as we can, but not much is left.
Add to that the horror stories like the one told above, or the whispers of people who tried to help out with something and got sued, and the exasperation with the over-politization of everything, and you have a situation where there are now reasons to not volunteer very much.
For instance, although a lifetime member of the Girl Scouts and former trainer for them, I’ve pretty much left the program due to the way they’ve changed the Older Girl program over the last decade, which has really irritated me to the point that I can’t really support it. They’ve watered it down and made it really lame, and I don’t think I’d be able to stick to the program if I volunteered. If, however, they brought back the badges (esp my fav, the native american badge), brought back the skills and challenge factor and ditched the “Self-esteem” building, I might want to help out with that. (The computer badge was also pretty cool. and astronomy and. . .)
Yes, I do do a few volunteer activities on a regular basis (mostly at church), but not nearly as much as when I had to in order to graduate. *shrugs* Maybe, someday, when I’ve finally got my life somewhat sorted out I’ll be able to do more.
Jun 3, 2008 - 7:10 am 7. Rebecca:Just a couple observations – I volunteered as a firefighter/EMT during the 90’s. These organizations generally suffer during good economic times because people are working and use their free time to spend with their families. In the past, during harder economic times, volunteerism on Fire Departments goes up, mostly because people use it to have a sense of purpose.
I also think that some of the problem is the political ideology that some organizations. subtly or not so subtly, promote. I had a friend who worked for a non-profit environmental group where the chairwomen would expound on the evils of capitalism and of course President Bush. Some don’t stop to think that the other side could possibly care about an issue and not share their political bent.
Jun 3, 2008 - 7:15 am 8. ALP:This article struck home for me, as I have done lots of volunteer work in the past. I don’t anymore due to time and other various reasons:
1. If you are organized and reliable, you’ll be one of a core group of volunteers that will do all of the work;
2. The effort began to resemble my day job over time (overwhelming emails, conflicts to resolve);
3. I moved, taking on a longer commute and thus had less time, and
4. It finally had an effect on my regular job.
Overall, I decided I only wanted to handle multiple details, deadlines, and hundreds of emails M-F. So I reclaimed my weekends and spare time. I guess if wanting to recharge one’s brain and relax a little in one’s spare time is ‘un-american’, well, I guess that’s me.
Jun 3, 2008 - 7:23 am 9. Smarty:The socialism effect is there for sure. Also, it seems that mealy mouthed liberals take over the non-profits, volunteer associations turn into subsidiaries of the DNC, and like as not end up supporting un-American causes.
Jun 3, 2008 - 7:31 am 10. Douglas Bogle:No one has mentioned the fact that all the money that goes to the ” vol. org. ” is so misappropriated. Many of us are sick of these org. and look for other areas to donate time and money. I provide a service for many non profits, they like to beat us up over pennies, yet they waste so much.
Just an observation.
Jun 3, 2008 - 7:39 am 11. Eva Ritchey:As our culture has moved left and the government has become the father of a significant number of American, illegals and street people the local people are not in charge and do feel taxed to cover this parenting roll. If you have volunteered for food banks, free clinics, free meals, EMS, you realize that most of the takers are ungratful, often fat, and could be self-supporting. They are not temporily down on their luck. People call EMS for trival things and tie up emerg dept. You can’t even be a good samaritin without worring about getting sued.
Jun 3, 2008 - 7:47 am 12. KG2V:I used to volunteer with a group that works with the Red Cross. Then last year, the Red Cross started mandating background checks with a 3rd party vendor, including lifestyle and financial records, and the way the agreement was written, they could sell your data, PLUS I don’t trust the particular 3rd party vendor
I still volunteer with the sub group, but have told the Red Cross where they can stick their background check. Having my identity stolen sol I can volunteer? Ah, No thank you
Jun 3, 2008 - 8:13 am 13. Sue:Take away the rules of being a decent, hardworking person and responsibility for others goes away. When was the last time anyone heard of rappers volunteering to help anyone? Hollywood types will “help” if they’re paid or treated like royalty and even then, the monies almost never get to where they were supposed to be intended. But, a good portion of Americans have woken up to the facts regarding the socialistic leaning left…perhaps that will still save this great country.
Jun 3, 2008 - 8:47 am 14. Concerned Citizen:What about the idea that there are so many more “volunteer” organizations today than there used to be? Simple supply and demand tells you that with more places to volunteer and about the same number of volunteers, you would have a shortage of volunteers. Or the way I see it, an oversupply of non-profit organizations with positions to fill. All the other points mentioned in other comments remaining valid…
It would be interesting to see how much of the economy has moved into the volunteer and .org segment of the economy, becoming in essence “dead money” that supports activity with zero economic return and of dubious real value to humanity.
Jun 3, 2008 - 9:12 am 15. Louis Santacroce:Try this: in 1988-89, I worked part time as a volunteer English instructor at a high school equivalency program in Oregon, while attending the University of Oregon’s totally useless Teacher Certification Program (don’t get me started). I saw some real results (the program achieved a 94% success rate), and decided I was going to love teaching. Upon graduation, I traveled to Alaska, where I tried to find a position teaching high school English. I secured an interview. The first question was, “What prior experience have you had as a teacher?” I responded with a long and rather excited description of my experience as a volunteer. The woman interviewing me listened patiently, then replied, “Well, if you had been any good, they would have given you an actuial job and paid you.” That, I vowed, was the last time I would ever volunteer for anything. I have not kept that vow, but I am now very wary of anyone who tells me that volunteerism might be the road to a good job.
Jun 3, 2008 - 9:41 am 16. Geoff:This is an interesting article… I agree with those who see a multiplicity of factors… It’s interesting that several people have jumped on the “socialism” argument, which I’m sure has some merit, but I wonder if it’s really the root cause? The irony, it seems to me, is that the “socialism” so many oppose wouldn’t be as much of an issue if the organizations who are supposed to provide for the needy, downtrodden, etc, were working effectively. Government, whether we like it or not, steps in when we, the people, don’t step up. And there are some people who will just never step up (I don’t mean politically, I mean just caring for your neighbor, that kind of thing). And that seems to be a deeper problem than a particular political agenda. Yes, there are the “perpetual victims” out there, and that is a problem. But I wonder if the “socialist” aspect is a symptom, rather than the cause, of the disease. Just wondering.
Jun 3, 2008 - 10:06 am 17. Heather:the organizations who are supposed to provide for the needy, downtrodden, etc, were working effectively.
I guess that depends on what you mean by “working effectively.” They’ll effectively help you back on your feet after a setback, but that’s not what people expect and that’s not what the government provides.
Jun 3, 2008 - 11:12 am 18. MarkD:Let’s not forget the “X hours of mandatory volunteer activity” for High School seniors. The educational theocracy around here doesn’t see the oxymoron.
I’m down to blood donations for the Red Cross.
I’ve served in the military, taught English classes in Japan, done Habitat, and a raft of things that I don’t count because my children were involved. I have gone from annoyed to dismayed over some of the stupidity (remember when the Red Cross was going to redirect some of the 9/11 donations?)
Maybe when I retire I’ll do some more – but only what I want to do and as much as I want to do. Right now, I don’t have a lot of time or energy for it, and some of the politics and personalities involved dissuade me from becoming involved at all.
Jun 3, 2008 - 11:22 am 19. Wacky Hermit:I’m wary of volunteering for an organization just because most places nowadays don’t allow you to just give of yourself. They want you to have background checks, learn their policy manual and do it their way, etc. etc. etc. I know Girl Scouts has a buttload of regulations– you can’t just take the girls hiking, you have to have a certain number of leaders who have gone through special training. Even our church has to have professionals clean the church instead of volunteers. Volunteers can vacuum, but they can’t clean bathrooms because of all the OSHA regulations.
So what happened to volunteerism? I don’t think people are less charitable, just more chary of falling afoul of lawsuits and government regulations.
Jun 3, 2008 - 12:22 pm 20. view from afar:No socialism is the cause! Here in France no one understands volunteering, as it is exploiting people’s worth and efforts. You do get volunteer firefighters and such in rural ares at least, but that is also due to the lack of millions of lawsuits (althought that is starting up too)so there you have it: socialism claims that volunteering steals money from hard put people as the no-salary employee is too tempting for the bosses in order to save money and exploit the masses. That is the literal translation from one of my neighbors to my inquiry into why there wasn’t more opportunities for volunteer work.
Jun 3, 2008 - 12:58 pm 21. p2:Then the fear of lawyers and their lawsuits, and free money that people hope to get…
shoe me an advertisement for a charity that pledges to enforce a code of conduct whereby you will know exactly where your efforts go, where you will not be required to avow marxism over christ, where social engineering will be eliminated from your experience and there will be a line around the block to volunteer.
Jun 3, 2008 - 2:04 pm 22. Roark:Why did I enlist after high school? to serve my country, but also to show my resistance to the left in academe and every other place that used to be worth something; hollywood ( once a dream factory of expression and art,now a dump), the factory (once a place of invention and making life better, now a recruiting hall for socialists and where “workers” milk the man or get fired or peered out for..working!)
, church ( show me one pastor these days thats not a global warmer or a christophobe) etc.
I felt FREE in the army from all the crap that gets shoved down my throat by those that co-opt the good things of this land for their own evil purposes.
there is a culture war and the people that suffer the worst are the weak because the left considers people a natural resources not humanity. they are killing off volunteerism and therefore the weak. but then again, I cant think so I’M the dangerous one…
Volunteerism in and of itself is NOT a positive value. The question must be asked why one is volunteering, whom one is volunteering for, and what purpose is being served. “Volunteerism” in todays fandangled language is nothing more than people engaging in anti-liberty altruistic causes. I am against this sort of guilt trip.
Jun 3, 2008 - 3:23 pm 23. John H:My wife and I have both tried to volunteer for several different organizations in recent years. The organizaions included a hospital, literacy tuturing,a food bank and abused women. We found bureaucratic idiocy, ineffiency, lazy “professionals” who spend all day in the coffee room and outright rejection of anyone evil enough to admit to smoking.
Short of starting my own pseudo charity and getting rich from a government grant I see nothing worth my efforts.
Jun 3, 2008 - 4:14 pm 24. Night Owl:Setting aside that Americans work longer hours than workers in many other countries, that many are taking care of elderly parents, or other ill relatives, or that many are single parents juggling their time between work, kids and household maintenance, then we are left with the following – which is a summary of some of the excellent points already made:
- red tape is a turnoff- background checks, multiple forms, ESSAYS!
- fear of lawsuit if you make a mistake, or someone just thinks you made a mistake
– related to fear of children- smile at one and risk being called a pedophile
- hectoring by smug lefties or proselytizing zealots of all stripes
- the reality of bureaucratic inefficiency and waste
There were other points, but I’ll stop there. To summarize, it seems that many people still want to help; but when trying to help becomes a major headache and a possible lawsuit waiting to happen, most people will opt for writing a check instead.
Jun 3, 2008 - 5:21 pm 25. Night Owl:“It would be interesting to know how much this lack of enthusiasm for volunteerism can be attributed to the increasing insularity of individuals from society.”
I think this is a good point as well. Some of the headaches, like red-tape and fear of lawsuits, are probably related to the fact that many of us live in large communities where people don’t know, and therefore don’t trust, each other.
Jun 3, 2008 - 5:33 pm 26. Government took my home:Writer Pam Meister says we should remember President Kennedy’s clever words in 1961 about serving your country. Well, I served my country, and more than once. And I did not ask what my country could do for me. My problem is that my government is irresponsible. It visits horrible wrongs on people, then walks away. My home and my neighbors’ home were destroyed when the federal floodwall catastrophically failed in Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. Up to five nearby neighbors died. But the federal government refused to take responsibility for the wreckage to our lives and memories. Now, old and ill, my wife and I will probably never be able to live in our own home. We worked hard to buy it. And then the government’s scheme–after a high-ranking official said his agency “took responsibility”–was to wage legal war against people with losses. And to win a judge’s decision that the government had no obligation to make good. This was based on a technicality.
Jun 3, 2008 - 8:09 pm 27. Bernie:I would love to volunteer but I’m a white male. Theres no way I’m going to risk everything I have. One baseless accusation of improper conduct and I get offically labled as a sexual predator for life. I’m not even willing to help show my daughters T-ball teammates how to hold the bat.
Jun 4, 2008 - 2:29 am 28. Smarty:The federal gov’t didn’t take your home, the local corrupt democrats did. They controlled and spent the state, local and federal money.
If you voted democrat, then you took your own home.
Jun 4, 2008 - 9:33 am 29. chiefpayne:It became unAmerican when the Government started TAKING money for us and FORCING people to support what used to be volunteer work.
NOW people just say, look to the Government for answers – that’s why I pay my tax dollars.
You see? When the Federal Government gets into the business of FORCING charity, then people will not give anything anymore. And really, can you CALL it charity anymore when it isn’t given from the heart but is FORCED from your hands by the Government?
Jun 4, 2008 - 9:37 am 30. RE: Government took my home:Um, ok. Now first question…DID you have flood insurance? Was your house destroyed by the hurricane floods?
If so and you didn’t have flood insurance, then you cannot blame the federal government. You KNEW you lived in a flood zone (or at the least knew you live in a city BELOW the water table). As such, you knew there was the POSSIBILITY of a flood.
Why then, do you blame the federal government? Because they couldn’t GUARANTEE you they could prevent flooding in a city BELOW the level of the tide? Seems to me common sense would tell you that was a possibility. Did you ever see a guarantee from the federal government that the floodwall would never fail? Is that in writing somewhere?
Now, if you DIDN’T have flood insurance, why didn’t you? Too expensive? If so, then you GAMBLED that you wouldn’t need it…and lost. NOT the government’s fault.
Jun 4, 2008 - 9:44 am 31. AJ:Great piece. Simple answers:
1. America is still more selfless than any nation on earth. We all need to remember this from time to time when castigating our own.
2. This is all different depending upon where you are in the US. As someone who has lived in rural and urban communities, it’s clear to me that the rich and/or the urban, either by virtue of narcissim or selfishness or graft from the gov’t trough, are not volunteering. The poor, religious, small town folks raised with values DO volunteer. Is this over-simplifying? Perhaps, but overall, very true. Michael Moore, for example, gives nothing to chairty, yet takes and takes and lies and lies.
Remember this fascinating John Stossel piece a few years back?
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JohnStossel/2006/12/06/who_gives_to_charity
Jun 4, 2008 - 2:29 pm 32. Don:I voluntered with my daughters swim team and was accused of looking sexually at the girls during swim meets by another woman on the team.I am male and my wife works out of state.Rumours flew around that I was a pervert and was told by my daughters friend that this was going on.I quit asap and will never volunteer again.It scared me to death that I would lose everything I had due to these allegations.This woman was a liberal that I had heated discussions with and she conjured this crap up to nail me.I was so scared of what might happen to me if I had confronted her that I just quit.
Jun 4, 2008 - 10:09 pm 33. AnnieB:Americans support the vast majority of the worlds charities. How much more do you WANT?
Besides which, the majority of the ‘big charities’ that tend to get counted are actually a small ( and corrupt! ) fraction of the actual HELP that goes form person to person. Most of us are finding we can do more good by acting AND thinking locally – and NOT giving anything to the politiliberal rip-offs that are the mainstream ‘charities’ these days.
Jun 5, 2008 - 12:31 am 34. Sean:If I actually had much time, energy or money left after the government has stolen from me for their “charities,” I might volunteer and give more. Unfortunately, the socialist/fascist government has decided that they are better at deciding where my charity should go than I am.
Jun 5, 2008 - 6:19 am 35. Dani:Volunteerism is a primarily American phenomenom anyway, and strongly tied to religiosity, which would explain its being uniquely American, and probably ties in with charity giving, as mentioned above. We do know that red staters donate a greater percentage of their income than blue staters. Of course, this could be because blue staters are taxed at a higher rate and expect the goverment to do more for its citizens. But even with these variations it is very safe to say that volunteerism is alive and well and one of the few remaining American values that is shared across all of the socioeconomic and political spectrums. High schools both private and public often require volunteer hours as part of the curriculum. It’s simply expected that people who can, will.
So is there really a problem with volunteering? Or is it that there are so many organizations vying for the time of of a volunteer that there simply aren’t enough to go around? Without a real study showing a decline in volunteer hours, I’m inclined to believe that is the problem. And what a great problem to have.
For example, Habitat For Humanity has been so successful and grown so much (except for a drop in funding around 9/11) that one of its stated “problems” is revenue outstripping volunteer capacity. Is this bad? Or do we just have more people who can donate “treasure” instead of “time”?
Jun 5, 2008 - 9:35 am 36. Pat:Pam, I do a lot of volunteering at my local community theatre, but it’s all either backstage (lights, sound, props, set construction, ASM) or as an actor. But I will never, ever serve on the Board of Directors. I know people who are on the Board, and I could never stand the kind of petty politics, empire building, and turf wars that they have to deal with. I volunteer at the theatre because I enjoy it, and I would HATE being a board member. (Not that anyone has asked me — and I hope they never do.)
Jun 5, 2008 - 11:56 am 37. Amphipolis:I have friends who are involved with both he boy and girl scouts. According to them, the girl scouts are having a much harder time than the boy scouts finding volunteers.
Jun 6, 2008 - 12:20 pm 38. agnana:I wonder how much of this is related to the decline of a traditional view of original sin.As
Jun 7, 2008 - 5:46 am 39. Mason:a Christian I believe that human beings are inherently flawed- so that absent significant effort things will fall apart. The default state is a downward trend, not an upward one. The
thing about this view is that it helps prevent
the “I did all this work and it didn’t fix
things!” attitude that too often leads to cynicism and burnout. And it helps not to
expect instant gratification. Over the years
I’ve been part of volunteer organizations
whose missions ranged from community choirs,
to prison ministry to science education.
And all of them have enriched me through the
relationships developed there.
Charity starts at home so why are we giving billion to countries that are now richer than the US?
Jun 7, 2008 - 6:18 pm 40. k:to crusader coyote: the Girl Scouts are ditching that nauseating Studio2B crap. Is that what you were referring to? They are replacing it with another program that I have not yet seen. The gal I spoke with at the council office said Studio2B bombed because it was “too urban” for the families who want to do scouting. In our troop, we emphasize the old-fashioned aspects of scouting — that’s the leader slant in our heartland culture. Most of the scouting experience/culture depends on the individual leaders — that’s why I’ll be a leader, or at least a very involved volunteer, so long as any of my children are doing scouting. Keeping it safe and keeping it the right culture for my kids to grow up with, and all the other kids are welcome to come along for a wholesome ride. God bless America.
Jun 8, 2008 - 4:27 pm