Volunteer — What a Wonderful Word.
Winston Churchill, one of the world’s great leaders of the 20th century, once said, “We make a living by what we do . . . but we make a life by what we give.” Making a life by what we give to our families, our communities and our country is a true life’s work. You understand what it means to give of yourself, to actively donate your time and talents in the service of others. We need to celebrate and honor the inner sense of wellbeing and pride that comes with being able to call oneself a volunteer.
I love the word “volunteer.” It’s such a nice sounding word. It conjures up so many meanings that are equally pleasant to the ear: kind . . . warm . . . loving . . . inspiring … good . . . compassionate come quickly to mind.
We are very fortunate to have “volunteer” in our vocabulary. It came to us from the French. They spruced up a Latin word by throwing the “aire” sound to the ending. I assumed they thought by 1600 it was time to classy up their service to the community by giving the word its own sound. Kind of like what my parents’ generation did with the word “nice.” They made it “cool” and a whole new generation were cool enough to volunteer.
What struck me as odd about the word “volunteer” is that it has only been around for a 400 years. Not that people didn’t donate time and do good things for their community before this time. In reference to ancient civilization, someone once asked the famous anthropologist Margaret Meade how she distinguished civilized individuals from nomads. One would think maybe pottery or paintings would provide the clue. Margaret said, “I look for a healed broken femur.” Showed that people cared and were willing to save the life of another — the premise for civilization.
You might also be surprised to learn that the first organization of volunteers in America was not formed at Jamestown or after the first Thanksgiving. The actual first community organization to call themselves volunteers was Benjamin Franklin’s volunteer firefighting company of 1736.
Since that time, however, literally millions have given back to their respective communities and have helped America become a beacon for volunteering. According to the Corporation for National and Community Service, over 77 million Americans volunteered nearly 6.9 billion hours in 2018. That is over 30% of the adults in the United States. This is estimated to be worth $167 billion in economic value. This doesn’t even count millions more supporting family and friends or doing favors for our neighbors that are acts of informal volunteering.
That wonderful word “volunteer” translates into billions of dollars for our communities across the country;alue that comes from our hearts and not from our government. In these very challenging times we live in today, volunteering has never been more important nor more welcome. Active citizenship where everybody is willing to pitch in is critical for our communities and country.
One of the best ways for us to make an impact on our community and nation is to volunteer. Invite a family or friend along with you. Thank you to all the volunteers, young and old, that are having a positive impact on their communities.
Of all glad words
of prose or rhyme,
the gladdest are
“Act while there
yet is time.” — Franklin P. Adams
