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Both travel and volunteering have to do with connecting with other people in the most quintessential ways. Volunteering has to do with helping people in need.

by elangoc 13y ago

Both travel and volunteering have to do with connecting with other people in the most quintessential ways. Volunteering has to do with helping people in need. When you do that, you realize the scope of how much fellow humans are in need. As social creatures, we humans can't but feel humbled and feel that there is still something meaningful worth striving for -- a sense of purpose. Given that we are all tech people here, it's safe to assume that daily needs and 'creature comforts' are so easily secured that we easily don't feel that sense of purpose as it pertains to ourselves. Volunteering connects with others who inherently have a sense of purpose, since they struggle, and the act of volunteering is an act of committing yourself to the purpose of helping fellow humans in need. Traveling opens your mind to new people and new cultures. And those ideas can get you to re-think what you believe, and you can grow as a person. You can also learn things to make the world around you better. What is the culture around education in Finland, and why is their ed. system so good? If Americans increasing want public transit, what does European rail transit have to each us? How could Bus Rapid Transit pioneered in S. America be even better? How can some cultures in Africa and India be a peek into human history 4000 years ago? Does South India's plant-based cuisines have the tastiest answer to current diet and environment movements in the US? We tech people & entrepreneurs are taught to build things that people want, so talk to users to find out what they want. We are also taught to leverage other experiences and ideas to inspire solutions to our problems at hand. It should be obvious, now, that both of those ideas are directly related to volunteering and traveling, respectively.

sown 13y ago
> Volunteering has to do with helping people in need. I've volunteered before, as I mentioned. Given what you wrote I think you may have missed that sentence. The way you write it, you come across with less warmth and more smug; like you're talking to a dog that speaks english. I may not understand what's so magical about volunteering or travel but I'm not heartless. I imagine it's a mis-understanding, but you might want to consider how you present this. > And those ideas can get you to re-think what you believe, and you can grow as a person. This also has a similar issue. Do you mean that if I don't travel I'm less of a human, to be held in contempt? That seems to be the implication. Again, I think it's a miscommunication. Most of the things you mention don't require me to be physically over there.
- manglav 13y ago
  I didn't get the same feeling as you. I received it with quite a bit of warmth, with a little bit of wistfulness? Try picturing Gandalf saying the words. What did you do for volunteering? I'm sure each type has their pros and cons. For me, I once volunteered to help abused children. One of our activities was to help them create a board filled with drawing of people that they can trust. We went through it with all the kids afterwards, adding where they can find them. Helping, no, empowering those kids was the most fulfilling feeling I've felt, and this was almost 7 years ago (I'm 22). Unfortunately, I haven't traveled (world trip coming after I can freelance), but I hope that it will reveal more about myself as a person as I put myself into new situations across the world.
- elangoc 13y ago
  The sibling comment said it better than I would have -- I wrote that with warmth and a little wistfulness. :-) Of course, this is print/internet, where we don't have the benefit of audio and facial cues. All I'm saying is that humans, as social creatures, like to feel connected to people. Different people feel comfortable with different manners of connectedness. Volunteering or traveling are not the only ways of connecting to people or broadening your mind on how the human experience can be. But to me, they represent the most direct forms. Or inversely, you know, it's not the same to be Facebook friends with someone as it is to actually regularly spend / talk with that person. It is different to experience a place by reading about it, by visiting on a tour, and by living there for 2 months. (Which is probably why I especially think about the environmental problems of food production and food packaging -- all my time spent in Tamil Nadu / S. India over the years especially heightens my awareness of the potential to solve that problem that I wouldn't experience otherwise.) "Growing" as a person was referring to collecting more / varied experiences... you know, the whole broaden horizons & learn-new-things thing. I don't think, however, that if I say that learning and education are inherently good things, that it would somehow imply that more educated people are 'better' than less educated people. All it means is, with all things being equal, taking advantage of an opportunity to learn is good, and the more you learn, the better.

by elangoc 13y ago

sown 13y ago

> Volunteering has to do with helping people in need. I've volunteered before, as I mentioned. Given what you wrote I think you may have missed that sentence. The way you write it, you come across with less warmth and more smug; like you're talking to a dog that speaks english. I may not understand what's so magical about volunteering or travel but I'm not heartless. I imagine it's a mis-understanding, but you might want to consider how you present this. > And those ideas can get you to re-think what you believe, and you can grow as a person. This also has a similar issue. Do you mean that if I don't travel I'm less of a human, to be held in contempt? That seems to be the implication. Again, I think it's a miscommunication. Most of the things you mention don't require me to be physically over there.

manglav 13y ago
I didn't get the same feeling as you. I received it with quite a bit of warmth, with a little bit of wistfulness? Try picturing Gandalf saying the words. What did you do for volunteering? I'm sure each type has their pros and cons. For me, I once volunteered to help abused children. One of our activities was to help them create a board filled with drawing of people that they can trust. We went through it with all the kids afterwards, adding where they can find them. Helping, no, empowering those kids was the most fulfilling feeling I've felt, and this was almost 7 years ago (I'm 22). Unfortunately, I haven't traveled (world trip coming after I can freelance), but I hope that it will reveal more about myself as a person as I put myself into new situations across the world.
elangoc 13y ago
The sibling comment said it better than I would have -- I wrote that with warmth and a little wistfulness. :-) Of course, this is print/internet, where we don't have the benefit of audio and facial cues. All I'm saying is that humans, as social creatures, like to feel connected to people. Different people feel comfortable with different manners of connectedness. Volunteering or traveling are not the only ways of connecting to people or broadening your mind on how the human experience can be. But to me, they represent the most direct forms. Or inversely, you know, it's not the same to be Facebook friends with someone as it is to actually regularly spend / talk with that person. It is different to experience a place by reading about it, by visiting on a tour, and by living there for 2 months. (Which is probably why I especially think about the environmental problems of food production and food packaging -- all my time spent in Tamil Nadu / S. India over the years especially heightens my awareness of the potential to solve that problem that I wouldn't experience otherwise.) "Growing" as a person was referring to collecting more / varied experiences... you know, the whole broaden horizons & learn-new-things thing. I don't think, however, that if I say that learning and education are inherently good things, that it would somehow imply that more educated people are 'better' than less educated people. All it means is, with all things being equal, taking advantage of an opportunity to learn is good, and the more you learn, the better.