Why is it that people get so offended when their motives for volunteer work are questioned? I offended the masses today, in an adult education class on community outreach, when I ventured an opinion on why some volunteers work harder than others.  My explanation was motive – those individuals that volunteer for the sole purpose of reaping personal gain from their efforts, in my experience tend to do the least amount of work for the most amount of gain.  You know the people; those who show up just before the media, get their picture taken (or manage to find their way into film footage of the event), then leave without ever getting their hands dirty, but use the footage for personal gain (i.e.: promotion).

Personally, I believe in altruism, or the ability to do for others without want or expectation of self gain.  Selfless, not selfish reasons for participating in community outreach.  This viewpoint was found to be offensive, and there were a few responses that stated that any reason for volunteering is good, and that it promotes great feelings of self-worth and spirituality, increased self confidence, and I even had one person admit it got him a job promotion.  Is it just me, or have they omitted the real reason for volunteer work: helping others?  Not one individual that resented my “ME” generation equation of the list of selfish reasons people do volunteer work even mentioned they volunteer to help others – NOT ONE!  Wow, I was even told altruism is non-existant, and that community outreach really was about the person doing the outreach work, not the people or community the work is intended for.  Really?

The “ME” generation just disappoints me every day, and this focus on self before others is just another in a long list of disappointments.  What was worse, for me, was that these were my colleagues involved as adult educators themselves.  What do we bring to our classrooms (or places of learning), as educators, if we are so caught up in  the “ME, ME, ME”?