Do Something.

vol-un-teer:

A person who performs or offers to perfom a service at free will.

vol-un-teered:

To give or offer to give voluntarily.

vol-un-teer-ing:

To do charitable or helpful work without pay.

                 Volunteer.  This word used to be painful to me.  It was like hearing nails on a chalkboard... being asked to do something without getting paid?  Pssssh.  Paaahlease. Or even the most simple things like taking the trash out when being asked to.  I couldn't even stand to hear the word "volunteer".  Don't get me wrong, I am so thankful for the way I was raised and the way I grew up- my parents were and are amazing parents, but now that I am into adulthood, I look back and sometimes... well, sometimes I get a little disappointed in myself.  I catch myself reminiscing all the time lately, especially with the holidays here.  My siblings and I were blessed with the best gifts and the best family, but there was always some sort of bittersweet bliss that went along with it- because God forbid... someone got something better than I did.
               Slowly but surely as I grow, my eyes open more- and I'm more aware of the community, the state and even the world.  But recently as I started my internship as a therapist (with adolescents), it was as if the door I had been waiting for flew open and smacked me right in the face, which left my eyes permanently, well...open. When I started to see firsthand how families live without heat, electricity, or love and compassion, I felt like the most selfish person in the world.  The day I stepped into that facility, was the day that I decided I needed to give back to the community. 
              Why give back you say?  Well, when you start to give back to the community and when a parent, kid or whoever thanks you, you will know what I am talking about. Most of the time you are gaining way more than you give when you're a volunteer; a chance to share your passion, meet people, and experience one of the most unique feeling a person can ever feel. I can not explain WHY someone should go out and give back in simple sentences.  This is not because it is so hard to extract the benefit from it, but rather because it is so hard to cover everything you could possibly gain.  We are all reliant on each other in one way or another in a community, state, country...world.  By benefiting someone else, you are improving the condition in your own life.  This my friends... is the fruit of volunteering. 


"Volunteers do not necessarily have the time; they just have the heart." 
                            -Elizabeth Andrew