ESSAY COMPETITION

This is the essay written by a Slovak students Monika Škvarková, Zuzana Demeterova and Tareq Al Harbi. Enjoy it.

Volunteering gives us an opportunity to change lives, including our own

Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously (2 Corinthians 9:6).

Having announced the year 2011 to be the European Year of Volunteering the interest of many people to step in and become a volunteer has increased. But it is necessary to say - what is not sufficiently publicized and written on dozens of the Internet web sites, it is like it would have never really existed. Voluntary work has not officially existed since the January 1, 2011. It has been around us for much longer time.

Although the number of volunteers has been increasing, it is not so rapid. If you asked young people if they wanted to become a volunteer, their answer would probably sound: “NO!“ And why? It is obvious that for doing voluntary work, you do not get paid. The only thing that you can get is a feeling of satisfaction. The most frequent thing that comes to young people’s mind when thinking about voluntary work is: “What do I have from a great feeling of having done work perfectly?, or “Why then to do unpaid work and spend the priceless time?” To be sure, the time is money and no one has enough of it.

It is not true of all young people. There are such ones, who do not expect anything for doing voluntary work, who like helping the others in need and they do it with passion. There are young people who understand it is necessary to help, they do not expect any appreciation or reward, they do voluntary work because they know it is needed. We never know when we will need some help.

There is deriding, which can also be a reason, why some young people do not want to do voluntary work. What if someone finds it out and tells everyone? The others will jibe at those active ones then. It is not a shame to help disinterestedly to someone. Vice versa, the shame is to keep sitting without doing anything, to mope and wait for the best.

According to the volunteering law the volunteer is a person or a group of people, who provide voluntary acts to disabled people, former prisoners or other tortured people or just people in need. Paradoxically, right disabled people are the ones, who are most often the volunteers. Someone can say, it is so because no one wants to employ them, because they are discriminated. Yes, it is so because of that reason in certain cases, but in general it is so because only disabled people can understand best, the actual need of a volunteer, as well. Their rich experience shows them what it is like, when no one is ready to help them and vice versa they know what it is like when someone helps and does not expect any reward. These people do volunteering not because they have to, but because they want to.

Older people who could enjoy their pension also like taking part in voluntary activities and work, also the people who did not feel the parents´ love in the childhood and spent their early years in the orphanages like being involved in volunteering. It is interesting, those people who had had a lot of obstacles and problems in their lives are willing to help. But those who have enough of fortune and happiness are not interested in volunteering.

It is not needed to have a fully filled agreement of voluntary activities and help. It is quite enough to help someone in your neighbourhood and you will have a better feeling. There are many civic associations established, which try to help weaker, older and disabled people. On the Internet, there are many web pages, which contain offers for people, who decided to help the others. All you have to do is just click and smile at someone, whom you have never seen before.

All in all, it is admirable and marvellous, how many good people have been found so far. How many of these people have already devoted their time to do voluntary work. They have made friends while doing group volunteering work, which are not based on slanders, insults, gossips and lies, but on honesty and understanding to help the weaker. People should always remember that if they help someone and make them happier, it comes back, then when they will not expect it at all. As an unknown author said: “Our happiness is like a pearl necklace consisting of many tiny pearls, which are our small pieces of happiness. When you give even one small pearl to the other who needs it, you will be given it back. The more time you spend giving help the others, the more of what you have handed round will return to you to make you happier!” And we should not forget about it.