Why do you think volunteering in the community is good?

Do you think some people look at community service from the wrong perspective?

• My mom brought this to my attention. She does a lot of volunteering and is heavily involved in a couple of organizations in India that take women out of the sex trade and provide them and their children with the opportunities to support themselves. She's been to a couple of assemblies at my school where people come in and talk about volunteering or introduce a program that they are involved in. A lot of the times the message come off as "we are better than them and should help" and why it may be true that some of us are more fortunate then others, I don't like the whole idea of being better than someone else. I think community service should be about helping each other out because we are all equal and because we could so easily be put in their place. Does that make sense? What do you think? BQ: what has been your most rewarding/enriching community service project so far?

• Answer:

  It definitely make sense, and I completely agree with you. I think some people that volunteer to see them selves as "saviors" and then they feel like they are better than others. Sure they should feel good about helping, that's why most people do it. But what they should feel good about is the issue. I feel good for the person that I'm helping. That they now are are in a little better situation. The "saviors" feel good for themselves that they did this and that.