What Is So Bad About Volunteering?
I am a person who has viewed community service as something that has always been good. I am helping a person or a group of people who is unable to help themselves, therefore, it must be good. However, some critics would beg to differ. Granted, some community service can be viewed as good. There must be somebody benefiting from the service that is being done, right? In most cases, yes, somebody is benefiting from service, but who? There is so much more to communities and service than people realize. I still do believe that community service is, for the most part, “good,” but there are very convincing arguments as to why community service is more harmful than it is beneficial.
There are critics who are quick to point out that those who partake in community service are only serving for selfish and cynical reasons. For example, in Adam Davis’s “What We Don’t Talk About When We Don’t Talk About Service,” he writes, “We serve not because we share with others but because we identify with others. I know what it’s like to be in your shoes. In fact, thanks to my imagination, I am in your shoes. I choose to serve you because I see you suffering, I can’t help but imagine myself suffering, and I don’t want to suffer. By alleviating your suffering, I take care of myself” (Davis,3). To counter that criticism, Davis also points out that there are other reasons as to why people serve. One, by serving others we serve God Two, we serve because we love others. Three, I identify with you. Lastly, I suck, please let me serve you (Davis, 3). Another criticism about community service is the pitfall of inequality.
It is very easy for us to subconsciously become caught up in the mindset that the people we are serving are lesser than me. In another excerpt from Davis, he gives an exaggerated example with the problem of inequality and service: “I serve you because I want to; I choose to. You receive my service because you have to; you need it. I live in the realm of freedom; you live in the realm of necessity. Serving you, I confirm my relative superiority. Being served, you confirm your inferiority. By my apparent act of humility, I raise myself up” (Davis, 5). Is this exaggeration even an exaggeration though? When we do not ask tough questions, and reflect on service, we tacitly confirm this excerpt. Nobody wants to think this way, but our actions show this. We start to improve the conditions of those we serve rather than improve the people that we serve.
If you are not already convinced as to why community service can potentially be very harmful, let me tell you about the voluntourism industry. Voluntourism is doing volunteer work while also participating in typical tourist activities. This industry is easily the most harmful industry in the world. These communities that are being served often fall right back to where they started. If the people in these communities know that every now and then that foreigners will come and take care of their needs for a short amount of time, they will not try to help themselves. Why should the natives of the community do the work and learn how to better their own community when temporary tourists can come and do all the work for them? It is great that you helped build a school, but, are there properly equipped teachers? Is there enough money to support these teachers for the foreseeable future? This is just one example given by Jacob Kushner in “The Voluntourist’s Dilemma”, which is an article in the New York Times. In another article, "The Reality of Voluntourism and the Conversations We're Not Having", Natalie Jesionka writes, “We need to start being honest about why we travel and why we volunteer. Because the reality is that travel, at its core, has always been more about ourselves than about anyone else. Lets acknowledge that volunteering isn’t so different.” Another criticism with volunteering is that good intentions do not always mean there is a good outcome.
In “To Hell with Good Intentions”, Ivan Illich makes it very clear that good intentions mean nothing when it comes to service. Illich says, “To hell with good intentions. This is a theological statement. You will not help anybody by your good intentions. There is an Irish saying that the road to hell is paved with good intentions; this sums up the same theological insight.” Good intentions are often the driving factor behind many people’s call to service, which is why this may be hard to read. While this is a very harsh criticism, I believe, to some extent, that this is true. However good your intentions may be, the service that was done may not have been helpful to the community. This is a very hard hitting realization, but there are many ways that volunteers can be better equipped when participating in service.
I do not want to discourage anybody from participating in service, and I hope that more people start to realize that there are downsides to service. However, I cannot talk about what is wrong about service without saying how we can combat these issues. I would then start to be part of the problem I want to help solve. On key way to building better volunteers is to educate them on the community and the culture. Another way to build better volunteers is to make sure that when participating in service, we are not doing the work for the community, we are doing it with the community. This is very important because when working alongside a community, we can start to form relationships with the community members and better equip them to handle their own community. These are just a few ways in which we can combat the problems that come with community service. There will always be people quick to criticize volunteer work, but it helps to understand their viewpoints, and to build off that criticism. When we critically evaluate why we serve, the needs of the people we want to help serve, and how to work alongside that community, we can effectively create a positive effect on communities. I still believe that community service is, for the most part, good. However, I am now more educated on learning about community needs and better equipped to build off of the criticisms that come with participating in community service. To have a meaningful service experience and create a lasting impact on the community served, we need to realize that service is not simple.
Cites:
Davis, Adam. What We Don't Talk About When We Don't Talk About Service. The Great Books Foundation: n.p., 2006. Web.
Illich, Ivan. "To Hell with Good Intentions by Ivan Illich." To Hell with Good Intentions by Ivan Illich. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Nov. 2016.
Jesionka, Natalie. "The Reality of Voluntourism and the Conversations We're Not Having." The Reality of Voluntourism and the Conversations We're Not Having. The Muse, 29 Apr. 2014. Web. 08 Nov. 2016.
Kushner, Jacob. "The Voluntourist’s Dilemma." The New York Times. The New York Times, 21 Mar. 2016. Web. 08 Nov. 2016.
There are critics who are quick to point out that those who partake in community service are only serving for selfish and cynical reasons. For example, in Adam Davis’s “What We Don’t Talk About When We Don’t Talk About Service,” he writes, “We serve not because we share with others but because we identify with others. I know what it’s like to be in your shoes. In fact, thanks to my imagination, I am in your shoes. I choose to serve you because I see you suffering, I can’t help but imagine myself suffering, and I don’t want to suffer. By alleviating your suffering, I take care of myself” (Davis,3). To counter that criticism, Davis also points out that there are other reasons as to why people serve. One, by serving others we serve God Two, we serve because we love others. Three, I identify with you. Lastly, I suck, please let me serve you (Davis, 3). Another criticism about community service is the pitfall of inequality.
It is very easy for us to subconsciously become caught up in the mindset that the people we are serving are lesser than me. In another excerpt from Davis, he gives an exaggerated example with the problem of inequality and service: “I serve you because I want to; I choose to. You receive my service because you have to; you need it. I live in the realm of freedom; you live in the realm of necessity. Serving you, I confirm my relative superiority. Being served, you confirm your inferiority. By my apparent act of humility, I raise myself up” (Davis, 5). Is this exaggeration even an exaggeration though? When we do not ask tough questions, and reflect on service, we tacitly confirm this excerpt. Nobody wants to think this way, but our actions show this. We start to improve the conditions of those we serve rather than improve the people that we serve.
If you are not already convinced as to why community service can potentially be very harmful, let me tell you about the voluntourism industry. Voluntourism is doing volunteer work while also participating in typical tourist activities. This industry is easily the most harmful industry in the world. These communities that are being served often fall right back to where they started. If the people in these communities know that every now and then that foreigners will come and take care of their needs for a short amount of time, they will not try to help themselves. Why should the natives of the community do the work and learn how to better their own community when temporary tourists can come and do all the work for them? It is great that you helped build a school, but, are there properly equipped teachers? Is there enough money to support these teachers for the foreseeable future? This is just one example given by Jacob Kushner in “The Voluntourist’s Dilemma”, which is an article in the New York Times. In another article, "The Reality of Voluntourism and the Conversations We're Not Having", Natalie Jesionka writes, “We need to start being honest about why we travel and why we volunteer. Because the reality is that travel, at its core, has always been more about ourselves than about anyone else. Lets acknowledge that volunteering isn’t so different.” Another criticism with volunteering is that good intentions do not always mean there is a good outcome.
In “To Hell with Good Intentions”, Ivan Illich makes it very clear that good intentions mean nothing when it comes to service. Illich says, “To hell with good intentions. This is a theological statement. You will not help anybody by your good intentions. There is an Irish saying that the road to hell is paved with good intentions; this sums up the same theological insight.” Good intentions are often the driving factor behind many people’s call to service, which is why this may be hard to read. While this is a very harsh criticism, I believe, to some extent, that this is true. However good your intentions may be, the service that was done may not have been helpful to the community. This is a very hard hitting realization, but there are many ways that volunteers can be better equipped when participating in service.
I do not want to discourage anybody from participating in service, and I hope that more people start to realize that there are downsides to service. However, I cannot talk about what is wrong about service without saying how we can combat these issues. I would then start to be part of the problem I want to help solve. On key way to building better volunteers is to educate them on the community and the culture. Another way to build better volunteers is to make sure that when participating in service, we are not doing the work for the community, we are doing it with the community. This is very important because when working alongside a community, we can start to form relationships with the community members and better equip them to handle their own community. These are just a few ways in which we can combat the problems that come with community service. There will always be people quick to criticize volunteer work, but it helps to understand their viewpoints, and to build off that criticism. When we critically evaluate why we serve, the needs of the people we want to help serve, and how to work alongside that community, we can effectively create a positive effect on communities. I still believe that community service is, for the most part, good. However, I am now more educated on learning about community needs and better equipped to build off of the criticisms that come with participating in community service. To have a meaningful service experience and create a lasting impact on the community served, we need to realize that service is not simple.
Cites:
Davis, Adam. What We Don't Talk About When We Don't Talk About Service. The Great Books Foundation: n.p., 2006. Web.
Illich, Ivan. "To Hell with Good Intentions by Ivan Illich." To Hell with Good Intentions by Ivan Illich. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Nov. 2016.
Jesionka, Natalie. "The Reality of Voluntourism and the Conversations We're Not Having." The Reality of Voluntourism and the Conversations We're Not Having. The Muse, 29 Apr. 2014. Web. 08 Nov. 2016.
Kushner, Jacob. "The Voluntourist’s Dilemma." The New York Times. The New York Times, 21 Mar. 2016. Web. 08 Nov. 2016.