To volunteer, or not to volunteer? That is the question.

Years ago I went back to college to train to be a teacher for my second career. I needed to take a speech class. My teacher did not like my speeches. Other students liked my speeches, so I had to decide her opinion did not matter. She was friendly, even though she did not like my speeches. It was tough to decide what to talk about for one of my first speeches. I decided that this was an opportunity to speak to a small group of people beginning their careers and make a positive difference.

So I was thinking, so what is a subject that would interest a group of people who are all in different majors. This was a required course for everybody, and none of us were speech majors. I was thinking what is something that we should all be doing, but we usually do not really do it. Well, we do it sometimes, but we do not do it enough. At least I know that I do not. I did it more when I was a teenager, because nobody was going to pay me for it anyway. I just get to occupied with my day job, so I know that I do not volunteer enough except for activities at church. I decided to do a speech to encourage the listeners to do more volunteer work.

So I do my research, and look up volunteering on the internet. I needed to get some quotes and motivational information to use in the speech. It turned out to be more fun that I expected it to be, because this was when I was first learning how to use the internet, my window to the world. I did give a nice speech, and I would like to pat myself on the back since the teacher did not do it. Other students complimented my speech. They would tell me stories about volunteer work they had done in the past. I hope that it made them think about doing more in the future. The purpose of my speech was not to really get them engaged in a project asap. I just wanted them to think about it, so that it would become a lifelong habit.

I think that the teacher did not like my two speeches because it did not make her want to get up off her but and do some volunteer work. Well, it is not my fault that she just wants to go to work and come home and not much else. That happens to a lot of us, including me. From my point of view, I wanted these two speeches to explain how volunteering improves the quality of life for you, the volunteer, not just the person or organization you are helping. These two speeches were successful because I did get some of my fellow students to think about how volunteering can help the helper. I had read articles about how it can improve your health, and so on. I am sure that it can, because it can just make you feel better about your life.

Thank you, friends, for reading my blog again.