While having lunch with a good friend the other day (this lunch was probably the opposite of last week's - read last week's "Not Having All the Answers..." to know to what I'm referring), we were discussing his 20 year-old son and all the different things he was planning for the summer in the way of volunteer efforts to help others in under privileged locations. While listening to this, I actually began to feel somewhat ashamed of my lack of volunteering up to this point in my life. As with most simple, ordinary, everyday events in my life (tongue-in-cheek pause), this caused me to take a minute to reflect on an age-old question that often pops into our heads from time to time: What is the meaning of life? I thought of the impact that this 20 year-old will have on the individuals he interacts this summer and how their lives would be improved by the efforts of him and his group. And while these efforts may not seem to "matter" in the course of improving the world "per-say," it will matter to them. For this reason, I surmised that the true meaning in life is pretty simple: Leave the world a better place than when you arrived. While there are many ways to accomplish this, one of the simplest that I felt I could commit to was to volunteer my time and money to help others. There are many reasons you should do so as well:
There are SO many people in need
We often feel that this is not our responsibility and someone else "has it." It has been estimated that out of the 2.2 billion children who live in the world, about 1 billion of them live in poverty. There are people every day (many in your own backyard) who could use a helping hand. While we may not be able to buy someone a car like Oprah or build them a house like Ty Pennington, we can identify the different ways in which we can help people around us. Whether it is volunteering time at your local homeless shelter to distribute food or just giving your old clothes to Goodwill for the less fortunate to use, there are so many ways in which you can make a contribution and work to make the world better.
It doesn't take THAT much time or money
With such a large number of people in need, people often think they are way too busy to make any time to give to others. This is very much not true. While there are some events that do require a large commitment of your time and energy, there are a number of things that you could do that would be very helpful to others without taking too much away from your normal commitments. One sure fire way to help, while only giving up little to no time, would be to just donate to a charity of your choice. Charities are not picky when it comes to taking donations and will allow you to make donations as small as $1 at a time. While this may not seem like much to you, that is an extra dollar that they didn't have before and will help. It has been estimated that about 10% of the world's population lives on less than a dollar per day. Every cent helps.
It will give you a better perception of the qualify of your life
One of the best by-products of giving of your time and money to help others may be the greatest reason to do it. Not only will your efforts and actions improve the world "piece by piece," it will also help give you a reality check from time to time and keep your perspective on life in focus. Often, we feel sad at our circumstances in life and desire to have a "pity party" when things don't go our way. By consistently giving of our time and money in relation to helping those less fortunate, we will be reminded of how fortunate we actually are for the positive things we have in life and how things could be worse. This will help keep us positive and appreciative when things don't go our way and focus on identifying a solution rather than moping in our sorrow...which NEVER helps.
While there are still many other things that can create a purpose-driven life, volunteering your time and money to help organizations, charities, or just people you know is a great way to truly make an impact on others. Even though you may think you don't have much and could only give a little, to those who have absolutely nothing, you will be giving a lot.
Ken Middleton is an Account Executive at TEKsystems that specializes in IT staffing and services. He is a graduate of UNC-Pembroke and current MBA student at Scheller College of Business at Georgia Tech.
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