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Volunteering is an act of service to others, where the volunteer will ask for nothing in return and wait for nothing in return. Traditionally, such values as caring, respect, love or generosity were the ones generally associated with volunteering, for most of the older generation it is still so.

However, it is important to notice that in recent years, we have come to almost diminish the worthiness of these values. The noble cause and moral values which volunteering has long stood for, has been replaced by a plain expectation that one will partake in this supposed act of selfless generosity.

One such example can be taken from the volunteering of our youth. Any youth that has a serious will to go to college, whether it be parental pressure, or social norm, will be told that to be accepted into college, you must meet certain standards, these standards are good grades, good behavior, certain area of expertise, such as playing an instrument and having taken part in certain social projects, or in other words having done volunteering. Volunteering is just one more of the check list standards that a candidate has to meet in order to stand a chance in the competitive field of college applicants.

It used to be that a person who volunteers will be deemed "ahead" of the rest of the pack, for showing certain qualities colleges and society tag as noble and important, like generosity, and selflessness. Today, as the rest of the pack catches on, all are expected to be volunteers in some sort just to keep up with the pack.

Is this situation worst? It might be that our society has finally achieved the utopian situation where the values of gratitude, generosity are not only encouraged, but have become quiet expectations that we have on everyone around us. Those that form a more cynical group, can speculate that having these expectations of our peers, will only diminish the real value of volunteering, that volunteering doesn't stand for what it used to stand for, now it is only considered a standard towards higher societal classes and that volunteers won't be as "pure hearted" in their intentions for this supposedly selfless act.

Although, even in this situation, we still hear heart warming stories of a youth who visits the old, a man that is ready to take time out of his busy schedule to drive the local food bank, of a care-giver that stands by the bedside of an ailing stranger patiently tending to all those little things that seem so big when you are weak.

The bottom line is each of us have to form our self opinions on the subject whether we still believe in the true and pure values of human relationships, or do we think humans are flawed and thus our intentions too.

Learn more about this author, Luohan Wei.
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