Haven't blogged in awhile so I will start off by saying that I have managed to get a large number of cats put on Petfinder and adopted, which I absolutely love. I have also see many dogs come in and out of the shelter, which the latter part is the best. Now, one thing that has come to my attention when volunteering for an animal based group is how many options you have and how many opinions can be formed. When you are looking at a problem you may only see it one way, but in reality there are many different ways to look at the same problem and come up with solutions. This theory can be used in almost every scenario in everyday life. Humans are incredibly intelligent creatures and we are made to build our own opinions about everything in our lives and this is what separates us from each other. I have talked a lot about this idea with one of my great mentors and friends. When you step back and look at the problems in the world and the reasons we want to change the world and volunteer, the reasons are limitless. Each person has their own story and no matter how different your story is from theirs you both believe in volunteering. I think volunteering can bring everyone together in a way nothing else can. No matter your cause you put your time, effort and money into something you enjoy and love to do which is exactly what other volunteers do everyday. If any of you are like me volunteering gives you a sense of doing something greater than just living and being on this earth because you are making a difference and changing lives that would never be changed without your help, which is an amazing thing to think about.
This is a very thought based entry and it may seem a little scatter brained because I am just using it to get thoughts down as they come, so I am sorry for that.
Don't be sorry! I think your post is great! This post was thought-provoking and you are so right, volunteering is an excellent way to bring the community together. All of us lead different lives and have different strengths/weaknesses, but volunteering serves as a sort of common ground. I think this is one aspect that makes many volunteer organizations so successful. That is, people come from so many various backgrounds that we have different experiences and abilities, so the strengths of one volunteer make up for the weaknesses of another. As a result, many areas can be covered and this leads to a lot of success. I have noticed this through my own volunteering experience at LARA where I teach Latinos how to speak English. Some volunteers know Spanish very well, but they are timid to speak it, while others may not know the language, but they have outgoing personalities and are not afraid to communicate.
ReplyDeleteThis didn’t seem scatterbrained at all! I absolutely agree with what you’re saying about how volunteering can bring people together. Over Spring Break I worked with several different people and it didn’t matter that we had different reasons for being at the animal shelter, what mattered was that we actually cared about what we were doing and were trying to make things better for the animals staying there.
ReplyDeleteAlso I think you’re right about how there are multiple ways to solve a problem. Sometimes it’s tempting to take the easy way out and not really look for more than one solution, but by giving a problem a little more consideration you can sometimes discover even easier or better ways to solve the issue. The problem is when people try to decide on just one solution. Then the fact that we’re all opinionated can be tricky.
I really like that you are pointing this out. I think that in such a giant world, things like volunteering and helping out one another not only helps the greater community but helps you connect with people who have a common interest. In cases like ours, some people might have chosen a service learning location that was convenient and flexible. Others choose a location to follow a passion or personal connection that they have. If I could pick anything in the world to volunteer for, it would be with a program dealing with the families dealing with a family member who struggles with addictions. I would want to work with a group like that because I am able to relate and share my experiences with others. By bringing personal experiences into your volunteer work makes it have a big impact on your life.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all let me say that I love what you are doing for your volunteering project. I honestly did not know that Petfinder existed and that there was a way for people to actually assist shelters in helping the adoption process along or at least getting the word out that there are many animals that need good homes. Secondly, I do agree with you that it is amazing how human beings are capable of coming up with multiple different answers to the same problem or, in other words, coming up with multiple possibilities to look at any given situation. Your post was very interesting to me because you put your thoughts into your post rather than just describing your volunteering experience in detail. While detail is good, it is the most intriguing when someone shares their personal feelings on any given subject and then ties it back into the purpose of the blog.
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