Why do you volunteer?

It was just last week, when I overheard, (I wasn’t eavesdropping :P) this girl telling two other girls how ecstatic she was that she got picked to volunteer for a charity program in Cambodia and how excited she was to go. I was happy for her as well, only until she said she applied mainly because it would look good on her resume and that would give her an added advantage when applying for jobs…
The reason people used to volunteer was to genuinely lend a helping hand to the less fortunate than them. Evidently things have changed.

Why don’t people have the genuine need to give back to community without expecting anything in return, be it rewards or recognition for their efforts? What happened to giving without expecting in return?  It’s true that what we put into the world has a powerful influence on what we receive, but that doesn’t mean we should expect because we give. The less we expect, the less we are disappointed.

Nothing can compare to giving whole heartedly, as Maya Angelou put it “I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver.”

The whole point of voluntary work is to help another person, why volunteer at all if you’re looking to help yourself? The whole purpose is lost. Almost everything people do today is for personal gain. Whatever happened to being selfless?
Giving without expectation is easier said than done, but it makes a difference in the heart of the giver :)

“What is called generosity is usually only the vanity of giving; we enjoy the vanity more than the thing given” -Francois de La Rochefoucauld
I’m sure many of us would have volunteered at a charity at some point in our lives?
So why do you volunteer?

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