Expectations while volunteering

One of the first few opinions expressed by people who volunteer is to criticize those who littered so much that they have to step in and clean it. It is especially funny when they say that on the very first day they volunteer to participate in a clean up activity.

The best attitude one can have when joining a volunteering activity is to have humility. My thought when I started volunteering especially in cleaning up a littered street was inspired by A.R.Rahman's Oscar speech. He mentioned that he was presented with two options. One to love and one to hate and he chose love which brought him to the Oscar awards stage. My takeaway from the message was the thought that I am presented with the option to be the person littering or the the person cleaning up. I chose to clean up instead of being the person who litters.

Don't get me wrong when I say this. I went through hesitation for weeks, When every day I walk from a restaurant back to work after lunch, I would think "I wish this place was cleaned up better". The locality was famous for truck drivers parking overnight , having food and alcohol and throwing the packaging around before they leave in the morning. The first time I finally made up my mind to clean up, I took permission from my company MD to allow me to dump the litter bag that I may eventually collect.

On the first day, when I started cleaning up, I started the task after work. I had brought in a casual T-shirt so nobody identifies me with my work, but of course the people in the neighborhood knew who I was. Though I expected none to join me, a few people saw me, joined me and picked a few bottles and dropped them in my bag. That day I collected 2 jumbo sized bags in 1 hour that I spent. My boss (the MD) called me in the next day and said I need not do the activity all alone and should invite volunteers from the company. I posted a request in company blog and my boss sent in 300 jumbo garbage bags to my office. It took just 13 weeks to empty the stock of bags.

Every Wednesday for the next 6 months I would spend 1 hour cleaning up and collecting at least a bag full of litter and set that as a target for any person who joins me in the clean up. At its peak I had two groups of 10 people moving in two directions to collect garbage. I personally enjoyed every moment of it. That was the first time I heard people who volunteer say that infamous opinion about how responsible they are and irresponsible every other person is.

The truth is even I litter sometimes (though very very little now IMHO). Everybody generates garbage every day. Every one of the volunteers was once a person who littered. Volunteering is about caring to make things better that what it is. When people say "Cleanliness is next to Godliness" We often assume that we are ranking activities in that statement. I personally believe cleanliness takes us closer to the Divine. Right next to it.

One of the principles I learnt earlier was "Give more than what you take". Volunteering helps me do that.

Volunteering to cleanup, taught me humility. I was shell shocked when one day the local newspaper featured my cleanup in a news article while I was trying be as humble as I could. I laugh at myself now whenever I think about my reactions then. When you are doing things for your own happiness, what others think should have no influence in how you feel about it. In fact my own mother was not happy with what I was doing when she heard about it. I understood that she does not wish that for me due to the love she had for me. She changed her mind reluctantly later when she saw me lead dozens of volunteers every weekend.

It takes a strong heart to volunteer. The first litter you pick is the hardest. The first push up in the morning is the most difficult. The first day you stop smoking is the most difficult. It hurts because the society has conditioned us that our growth comes with a right to litter. The higher our stature more we can litter. I believe that my growth happens when I am giving more than what I take. Like Gandhi said "Be the change you want to see in the world". Agree?

#Volunteering #cleanup #society #bethechange #mkgandhi #gandhi