An article in The Postech Times reminded me of a past experience. The article’s title was “What Can Be Done for Society”. I spotted a picture of volunteering in Ethiopia, so I thought the article would be a review written by foreign volunteers. But the article mentioned how numerous volunteering opportunities exist in our university and scolded the readers about how we can use our knowledge to contribute to the society. I was dumbfounded for a moment after I finished reading. I’ve realized that I haven’t participated in any volunteering activities since acceptation into our school. Then I remembered my high school experience about volunteering.
I participated in one after school activity only, called Club for Practicing Filial Duty Culture. One of its activities was visiting a nursing home during the weekends. I became partners with a woman who was a resident there. My job was to go on walks and talk with her. My partner was famous for sleeping most of the day, and she also had difficulties speaking because of her age. No one in the nursing home could understand what she was saying. Then she became tired of trying to talk without success. When I first met her, I felt sympathy. And thus, I continuously made a conversation with her. She gradually accepted my conversation. Then after a few weeks, I became able to understand some of her words.
After a few more weeks, she accepted a wheelchair walk with me and told me more about her past. Nurses were proud of me. I usually acted as a translator between my friends and her. She would greet me like her own granddaughter and talk with me in a much brighter tone than when I first came. I came to realize the power of care and communication.
Since I was accepted to POSTECH, I have been ignoring the joy. I justified my laziness with excuses of homework and tests, telling myself I didn’t have time. I am embarrassed now to face the fact that I have been lazy about volunteering. I feel as if my volunteering for the nursing home was an act to fill out the volunteering requirement for graduating high school. Regret fills my mind for depriving myself of the joy and using school as an excuse.
Now that I look back, there were numerous volunteering activities introduced during the orientation season. I was unable to recognize my deception even as I visited another nursing home as an instructor for freshman orientation. Various clubs and organizations prepare places we can volunteer with fellow Postechians or even with students of other universities. The article I read reminded me of these opportunities that I once forgot about, and encouraged me to seek the thrilling joy of volunteering again.