Any volunteers please step forward.
Question - Is it really a sacrifice if you aren't giving up something?
Somebody get a fire extingusher. Major burnout. I feel like I'm going a little crazy. If it isn't a Boy Scout event, it's a Church Youth event, or a band concert, or a middle school choir concert, or a recital or a graduation or a.............................aaaaaaaaaaaaaghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
I would really like a vacation from it all for a while. But I can't see where. Some say I'm involved in too much, maybe? It would be easy from a selfish stand point to just say the heck with some of it. I quit! You kids, get someone else to take you camping. Get someone else to teach you how to be responsible, have some compassion. I don't need to go to that concert, I've heard that song a 1000 times already! Instead I'm gonna go fishing and boating and partying with my friends......
But I don't. See there is another side to this story. Somebody has got to stand up and do it. Be responsible. Set an example. Make a difference. I can't tell you how many people with issues I've worked with over the years. Kids from patched up families, Mom and Dad divorced, bitter, arguing. Single Moms trying to get their kids (especially boys) exposed frequently with some decent adult male role models. ADHD Kids. Adults with disabilities. Or poor families just looking for a hand with dinner or a ride somewhere.
And there is this responsibility thing as a parent. Being there when they finally play in front of the big audience. When they are confirmed at church. At graduations, or the big game. Showing your interest and being proud of their accomplishments.
You just gotta step up, make that sacrifice, be responsible. And don't take this blog wrong. I enjoy doing most of it, the overwhelming majority of these things. It just that there is so much...
I see a disturbing trend. Apathy seems to be on the rise. Less and less people are finding it convenient to volunteer. It doesn't fit into their schedule. They have other plans. It makes it harder and harder for those of us who do volunteer. Fewer, trying to do more. Get a lot of drop and run if you are a volunteer working with youth. "Here are my kids, I'm off, call me when I have to pick them up!". You want to holler "HEY, they are your kids, why don't you spend time with them!" But that is the problem, they aren't and the kids are caught in the middle.
So I keep volunteering, showing up, going to that concert or recital. And it's tough when my adult friends are headed to a party or an adult get away weekend. "Wish you were going with us." they say. Yeah so do I alot of times.
I just wish that some of the organizations that I volunteer in, Boy Scouts, Church Youth Groups, etc. took time to really give there volunteer staff support. Help take care of their needs, keep them from burning out. Somebody has got to step up.... Any volunteers?
posted by microe at 10:35 PM
3 Comments:
Microe I AM STILL READING - PLEASE KEEP BLOGGING!!!!!!! I am so familiar with your pain! Just remember that you ARE making a positive impact on so many lives! Also, soon your son will be grown and then you will have SO MUCH time to yourself that you will miss this mass chaos! At least that is what I keep telling myself about my own situation! I love reading your blogs so keep on keeping on!!! Gloria
oh man -- this is a can of worms. The thing is, you are preaching to the choir, so to speak with the group that reads your blog. You need to put this in every newspaper as a letter to the editor. There's nothing wrong with shaming people into it!. If it weren’t' for the fact that so many of these orgs are child-related, you could walk and say "screw it, it's someone else’s turn" and if no one stepped up - oh well, it would just go away. But your right, you can't do that with kid issues, 'cauz it the kids that suffer.
I have some of that going on, but with me, I'm embarrassed to say that I also want it done "right" and "my way" so f_ck it I might as well do it myself (which is a horrible thing to admit about myself.) But then every once in a while I catch myself and say -- "you know what -- the world was spinning before I came along to help it". If you were not doing all these things SOMETHING would happen and it wouldn't be the end of the world -- someone else would eventually step up, or the BS in PP would merge with another troop, or your church would have to accept that they aren't going to have a youth program, etc. And eventually all those parents/people who think they can throw a little money at an organization and walk away will realize that it take way more then just money to run something -- it takes heart and soul, and it takes someone who is willing to be a LEADER.
Like I said -- no answers here - but I do sympathize (for what that’s worth)
Amen Mike!
You and I always did see eye to eye on this subject. It seems like it's always the same people who they allow to "take Care" of it all. You're right, there's nothing better than having your kid look out in the audience, etc and see you there. That' minute when your eyes catch theirs.... guess that's why we do it.
I'm thinking that it's time to retire from some of my duties. I've been the director of children's chapel as well as a teacher for about 5 years. When it gets to be more work than fun... then it's time to let it go. After all, my kids are grown for pete's sake.
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