Volunteers are special people; they are individuals who set their lives aside for days, weeks, months, and sometimes years to help other individuals during the worst and most difficult times of their lives. These are incredible people and they need to be recognized as such.
Lucky for us, the world of volunteers continues to grow. Some volunteers are based in the United States as well as a growing number overseas. The youth of today are exploring this market in ways the baby boomers never thought of. Today’s society has actually forced the younger generations to take an honest look at the world, and they have decided that changes need to me made and they are more than happy to make those changes in any way they can.
One field that has been growing rapidly is oversees volunteers jobs. This is rewarding on both ends as people oversees are being exposed to a whole new culture and the individuals who are volunteering are traveling for free and gaining experience that will help them later in their careers. They get to see things that they would never have otherwise had the opportunity to and are gaining valuable experience at the same time. Asia, Africa, Latin America—these are all areas that are looking desperately for help and these volunteers are the answer. Imagine being a young teacher and going to one of these countries and having children who were actually grateful for what you could teach them. The reward of seeing the smile on their face and the genuine appreciation for what you are doing for them is probably all the reward these special individuals will ever need.
The giving continues in many different areas, but another that thrives on volunteers is those in the healthcare industry. Healthcare volunteer jobs are the heart and soul of many successful operations both oversees and locally. Think about a time when you were in the hospital and a candy striper brightened your day. How many times have you heard stories about retired nurses who are still active in the field as volunteers to help those without insurance or without the money to afford these services? Go back up to one of those horrible tragedies mentioned above, 9/11, and think about how much more horrible that would have been if we had not had all of those healthcare professionals that volunteered their time to help out our country and people at one of the worst times that we have ever faced domestically.
Another beauty of volunteers is how they are such a huge part of our community. These are people you probably do not even think about, but their mere existence is the reason our communities are safe. The volunteer firemen, medical responders, ambulance drivers, neighborhood watch teams, doctors, lawyers, the list goes on and on. These are all people that we know and love who are giving up their time with their family and loved ones so that our community can be a better place. How do you not applaud these individuals and put them up on a pedestal so high that they can never be knocked off?
Now we will look at the other end of the spectrum and imagine our world with no volunteers. Imagine people not helping others because they refuse to do anything without being paid. Where would be, what kind of a civilization would we be living in where those less fortunate had no hope? Where would we be if countries around the world with families that make as much in a year as we do in a day could not rely on the assistance of individuals and countries with more than enough to give?
At times, we can look in our own backyards and see the reality of exactly this mentality when we see that homeless person living on the vent in the middle of winter with a blanket that is thinner than what we put down on our sofas for our pets to lie on. Or you see them digging through a trash can for their evening meal when all it takes to make their life a little better is a little giving an a little generosity on our parts to make them feel like a human being again. Volunteering our time and money to help make their world a better place is all that is needed, but how often does it really happen?
We have heard all of the excuses, ''I don’t know where to go, and I don’t know who to help.'' These are just excuses. Volunteer job opportunities are everywhere, they are on our streets, in our hospitals, in other countries, all over the Internet, and in just about every other location you can possibly think of. Be that person that makes the world a better place; be a volunteer.
