Importance of volunteering
Ok, from the outset, let me confess something: I never liked volunteer work, unless they promised me CIP hours or something worth my while.... However, I realized as I grew older that there was more to life than just sitting on my arse at home and not doing anything but staring at the com, playing games or surfing the net. To set matters straight, the history of volunteerism, or who precisely came up with the theme, is not really known. However, what is known is that the movement has spread to almost every country across the globe. Every country gives, and receives, selfless acts from private, or governmental volunteerism agencies extremely frequently. Some have even gained the reputation of being known as countries that can always be counted on to provide aid. Cuba, for instance, recently sent 1,000 doctors to the tsunami-affected areas in Sri Lanka. Singapore sent 600 medics to Thailand. Now I hear you all asking, what has this to do with me? I'm not trained or anything! The truth is, this has everything to do with you. The Dothan Eagle, a newspaper based in Alabama, USA, recently reported that about 34% of its youths have volunteered their time and efforts in an educational or youth services program. Alabama's youth population has 4,599,030 people, so I leave you to do the maths yourself. Now, what gets me is the number of people who did this out of the goodness of their hearts. 95 friggin' percent, man..... 95%. And, these students are between the ages of 13 to 17, yet they are so willing to sacrifice their time and energy to help those less fortunate than themselves. I think we have a problem here. How many of you are willing to do this if we didn't award you with CIP hours? I refuse to believe that Singaporeans are not as kind hearted as the Americans. In fact, if we are probably smarter (see video by clicking on the link), then why aren't we just getting off out asses and doing something for the world around us?

updated @ 5:29 p.d.