On Volunteering

Marie Hagopian
USA

With volunteering, there is no cookie-cutter solution as to exactly how to go about doing things. You just have to put both feet forward and jump in with everything you have inside of you. I will probably never get to have this kind of experience ever again, but instead of looking at that as a sad thing, I look at it in a completely opposite way. It's more of a reason to give my all, every fiber of my being, into this volunteer program that only spans 2 1/2 months for me. For the very short time that I am here, I am stretching my mind in every creative way imaginable. If it weren't for new, exciting, unconventional ideas and proposals, (as well as the people behind them), how would history have come about? Maybe, today in 2011, we'd still be Pagans, worshiping the fire that we're sitting around, and electricity wouldn't exist.

How do you measure results? It's tricky and I don't think there is an answer for that in a volunteer service. Maybe I can measure results by the smiles on my students' faces. Or by their expressions of pride and excitement when they get a difficult question right. Or maybe by the number of international responses that I receive in my Inbox from companies who want to collaborate with my organizations. Moreover, who's to say what's an accurate measurement of success?

In life, you just have to use the tools you were given, the skills that you have, keep an open mind, and pray for the best. Volunteering is no different. Do it. It is a reward like no other. I have found early in life that the rewards that are intangible are the best ones. They're the ones that stay close to your heart forever.