Is volunteering selfless or selfish? I’ve found that the answer is both.
Let me take you a few steps back to where I’m from, before you gasp for air reading my answer. I grew up in Indonesia, where poverty and wealth live side by side. My great grandparents housed a lot of kids so they could go to school and pursue their education, just because. The result of that is a grandma with the biggest heart. She continues to teach us to give, visit orphanages, and think of others before ourselves. What about my mother? Spoiler alert, exactly the same. So I grew up volunteering, visiting orphanages and sharing my fortune. I spent my 18th birthday eating KFC with kids, removing lice from their hair and buying sandals because they had no footwear.
So when I moved to Australia, I wanted to do exactly that. Give. Since my passion is kids, I wanted to find a place where I could give my time and hang out with kids.
Fast forward to now where I’ve been fortunate enough to be part of Yogahood, the organisation that brings yoga to underserved and at-risk communities. Every Friday for the past year and a half, I teach newly arrived youths on how to breathe and be mindful.
Why?
Truthfully because I believe that there’s a purpose to why I’m blessed, to share it with others. The selfless reason. But also, once I start, I can’t stop. My heart explodes with joy when I’m with the kids. It easily is the highlight of my week, something I always look forward to. Driving an hour or two during my lunch break to see the kids isn’t me “giving up” my time — it’s actually a break from my routine. An incredibly life-enriching break. The selfish reason.
Try it. Try teaching a group of kids or playing chess with a group of elderlies. Try taking your neighbours’ pets for a walk. Try it. Try “giving up” your time, just because. See what happens when you perform this selfless act. What you get in return is twenty-million-fold. You cultivate empathy, compassion and perspective. You realise you’re not in this world alone. You realise the powerful force of humanity.
I just finished reading The Book of Joy by Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu (if you haven’t read this, do it. Put it on your bucket list better yet). In this book, Archbishop Desmond Tutu spoke about the African philosophy, Ubuntu, which believes “a person is a person through other persons. None of us comes into the world fully formed. We would not know how to think, or walk, or speak, or behave as human beings unless we learned it from other human beings. We need other human beings in order to be human. I am because other people are.”
Isn’t that true? Didn’t we learn how to speak, how to eat, how to love through other people? So isn’t it true that through the selfless act of giving to others, we’re also giving to ourselves? I mean, get this, in her book Thrive, Arianna Huffington suggested her friend to volunteer when she lost a job. Crazy? Maybe. But think about it. Giving helps us connect with others, with ourselves, with humanity. In the hardest of times, I think that’s when it counts the most to be brave and do it.
So, let me ask you again. Is volunteering selfless or selfish?
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Via Tendon is a Yoga teacher and Yogahood Australia volunteer. She holds space with conviction and compassion, but doesn’t believe in taking yourselves too seriously. Looking like she’s 13 definitely has its benefits when it comes to teaching kids. She’s tiny, bossy and will remember your name and injuries. Via will be helping to facilitate Yogahood’s Outreach Training in early 2018. Visit www.yogahood.org.au to find out if volunteering is selfish or selfless.
