Give back a smile
View(s):Sometime back when I made up my mind and started to volunteer most of my friends and relatives alike started to ask me, why do it? What is the reason you spend your time in return for nothing? Some even thought that I was going with the tide at that time.
I was never a biggy in the whole Volunteer idea sometime back. For me it was just another way people sought to gain attention. I finished my school career and started reading for my degree and suddenly out of the blue I got a chance to visit the Maharagama Cancer Hospital with my institute. A group of friends had arranged a fun day activity for the terminally ill children at the hospital.
Curiosity getting the better I asked them why do this. His answer was simple, “if you see someone without a smile, give them one of yours. They will remember and cherish it forever.”
This group knew completely well that what they do will not have any effect on the children’s health. Yet they worked by their belief that what they do is the best for these children. And I agreed with them. Their hard work for that day had only one single goal, make sure the kids enjoy that day to the fullest.
My idea of volunteering completely changed after that incident. Volunteering is not just about taking a one mile walk for a cause, it’s not just about donating rupees to a bank account, it’s not even about organising volunteer events every other month. It’s about you believing in yourself and knowing that what you do right now will and can affect someone. It’s about spending your time and energy and not expecting anything in return except the knowledge that you just made someone’s day a lot more better. Volunteering can have so many diverse aspects.
You don’t have to necessarily travel the world, spend millions to make the world a better place. If every one of us can believe in ourselves that we can make the step towards a change then that is a start.
So why do I volunteer? It’s because I know and believe that if everyone can do some good in this world, then this rock we call home can be so much better. It’s because someone somewhere needs to start, it’s because making someone’s day brighter is so much better than what this article can explain. I have come across many instances where I have had the chance to make someone’s day, put a smile on someone’s face. The feeling you get when that person smiles back at you and says thank you cannot be matched by anything in this world. A quote from the movie ‘P.S. I Love you’ said it all – “Today, give a stranger one of your smiles. It might be the only sunshine they see all day”
This article was written by a STITCH volunteer. To find out how you can be a part of it please email ivolunteer@stitchmovement.com or visit www.stitchmovement.com
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