Taking steps to improve our world may see like an arduous task, but with the right motives it can be easily accomplished. One way we can better our world would be through volunteering. Volunteering is giving up your time for a task without being asked to do it and without expecting an end reward. This idea at first may seem horrible and even outrageous. Why would you want to give up your time knowing there is no reward? The idea of volunteerism however is much greater. Through your time volunteering on a task, not only will it allow you to better affiliate yourself with your surroundings, but it will allow you to meet many people with the same goals and ideas. For example if you deeply share a connection with nature and wish to do a clean up for a national park, while attending the event you care about, you have the opportunity to meet many other people who share similar values as you and you may end up making a friend. While this offers no real tangible reward, it does offer something much greater. That is a feeling of gratitude. If you were to volunteer at a homeless shelter, the people there would be thrilled to have you and you would see the gratitude in their faces in the form of smiles. This gratitude offers a reward no tangible object can, as it allows you to feel good about yourself knowing you're doing something worthwhile and helpful for the overall community.

This plan of volunteering can help to improve our world while providing benefits to you, the volunteer. This plan however will also have some problems that must be worked around for it to be successful. The biggest threat to volunteering is commitment. If you are not committed to working through a project, you will have no motivation to see it through. Since volunteering is built on the foundation of individual effort, you have to make that first step for it to develop into a reality. Unlike jobs, volunteering often does not have a set schedule that you have to meet, so it's vital that you make that first leap. Without that initial effort, nothing will be reached. The pros to volunteering greatly outweigh the obstacles though. The gratitude one receives can come in many shapes and forms, so each experience with it will be worthwhile. Another benefit of volunteering comes from obtaining a deeper connection with your surroundings. Whether this surrounding is your community or even the world as a whole, achieving this connection can help you feel more in line with it and help you realize that you play a part. Generally if you care about something you will make an attempt to better that something. So, if you care about the environment for example and volunteer for a clean up, that clean up can help you connect better with nature. From my past experiences with volunteering, I can tell you that it is definitely worthwhile and a positive moment in life.  Through Boy Scouts, I have done many volunteer projects. Many of these were clean ups for local lakes or hiking trails. This experience opened a new world for me and helped me to connect with our environment. This initial action led to what I do today with volunteering, especially with our school's Environmental Club. Through volunteering, many new doors open to you, but it's up to you to begin the process.

Overall, I feel that if we as a whole work through volunteering we can help to improve our world’s conditions. Volunteering can help us to all come together as a whole through shared values and beliefs.