To be or not to be...a volunteer.

WHAT: The concept of volunteering dates back to the Parable of the Good Samaritan, which stresses the importance of helping your neighbor out and demonstrating human kindness. Today it seems that more organizations are requesting help from others in order to fulfill their mission, but recruiting those volunteers is the hard part. Can pushing people to volunteer constantly be a bad thing?

SO WHAT: After 9/11, President Bush "saw the need to renew the interest in helping our neighbors...[creating] several new programs and the President's Volunteer Service Award to be given to those the help to make a difference." Celebrities encouraged all Americans to volunteer and help each other because they do. Not all Americans want to be told what to do; they want to do it on their own accord. Congress disagreed:

Serve America Act

In regards to that bill: "We contribute our time and money under no government coercion on a scale the rest of the world doesn't emulate and probably can't imagine," said Luke Sheahan, contributing editor for the Family Security Foundation. "The idea that government should order its people to perform acts of charity is contrary to the idea of charity and it removes the responsibility for charity from the people to the government, destroying private initiative."

NOW WHAT: It is important for people to feel and see their worth, not just told it. In my job as a 4-H Agent, I rely heavily on volunteers and I encourage youth development of life skills especially citizenship. I want them to WANT to volunteer and to see the impact that they, as an individual, can produce, without being told to do it. Giving volunteers the autonomy of making their own decisions works well, because when they see their own impact, importance and worth, they will return.