Comment: Two faces in the same mirror - What is the real meaning of volunteering?

I recently had the opportunity to participate in the fourth edition of the TEDx Bucharest event which had as the general topic “What drives you?” The event took place at the People's Palace, Bucharest's monument to what drove Communist Era tyrant Nicolae Ceausescu. The main topic of the event was divided in four sections: Breaking barriers, Profiling the future, Shifting paradigms and Outside and Beneath. As usual at these types of events, the speakers, the contents of the presentations and the presentation skills of the speakers themselves were varied, but the overall atmosphere was very inspirational. I've decided to concentrate on a favorite topic of mine that was raised, rather than nutshell the whole event. A few years ago, I read Peter Drucker’s books about the future of our modern and cybernetic society. The American educator, management consultant and creator of the concept of the “management by objectives” synthesized in his books what he believes will be the main characteristics of future societies, among them “displaying a sense of generosity” as an essential part of living in this world. The sharing of our time and talents by getting involved in volunteerism, social entrepreneurship and mentoring. Drucker, as it was written into article from 2009 on the American Management Association site, saw “volunteerism as essential to the smooth functioning of society, as well as a satisfying way of ensuring that work doesn’t consume your life. Today, there are hundreds of volunteering opportunities to choose from. Drucker’s recommendation was simple: Find an organization and cause you believe in—and get to work!” I should be honest and say that when I read about this idea for my doctoral thesis, I found it difficult to understand or accept. I, and I'm sure other Romanians too, couldn’t forget mandatory 'voluntary' work lasting never ending hours and days in agricultural activities or on the building sites, activities that used to be called “patriotic voluntary work” during the Communist Era. Now, I know much more about this topic and I try to involve myself in such activities, searching for what Drucker described as a satisfying way to ensure that my life isn’t only a long, long day of work for financial gain. The TEDex event helped me to understand better what voluntary work can really mean. So, in this context, I would like to focus on two presentations at the event that particularly touched me. These two stories are simple but very human and gave me new insights and …more courage. The first story was told by Paul Dicu, an ultra marathon runner who has already completed the grueling Marathon des Sables twice. The race across the sands of the Sahara Desert is considered the toughest marathon in the world. Paul has run kilometer after kilometer under the scorching sun in the Saharan desert for the Children’s heart association and thus helped build the high performing intensive care unit at the Marie Curie children's hospital. What was very interesting in his story were the two key words which guided him in his speech “ the fear and the sense”. He talked in Romanian for his fear that he couldn’t explain the very Romanian word “rost”. Actually I thought that I could translate the word “rost” as the cause/sense for which somebody does something. It perhaps would have been better if Paul had talked in English because he could spread better his story to a wider audience using this admirable modern “vehicle” which is TED platform. What Paul said was a tale of courage, self discovery, self improvement and the breaking of our deeper internal barriers. Paul spoke well, adding a touch of humor and self irony to his extraordinary adventures. He shared information about the rules, the participants, the harsh weather, the tough tests for the mind and body, the funny but dreadful competition with the camels, the cold nights and the days with temperatures over 50 degrees Celsius. Not to mention the sand storms. Beginning with his fear in his childhood for his coach and continuing with the fear that he would not finish his running events, not out of vanity, but for his noble goal, what Paul shared was his deep belief that if we have a good purpose, fear can be very productive. A way to change one paradigm, isn’t it? The second presentation which I like to share with us was made by Tom Andreassen, a Norwegian who was deeply involved for many years ago in the social work in Norway, Romania and many other countries. Tom studied photography but now this profession is used only to support his charity work. Tom chose to present his experience via to three real stories, one from Albania, one from Romania and one from Norway. Briefly, these stories showed the tragedy of poverty (in the Albania and Romania stories), the tragedy of a lack of identity ( in the Romania story) and the tragedy of mental illness (in the Norway story). What really stuck out was his introduction. He said it doesn’t matter you are rich or poor, doesn’t matter to which family/country or history you belong, the human condition is the same, with ups and downs and that compassion, understanding and love of people is essential for humanity and our inner balance. Tom organized, for example, the 2010 Music and Art marathon, in which young performers were rewarded for their work and, in his social work, he supports Romanian youngsters via education or helps troubled children, addicts and victims of sexual abuse. Two experiences and two faces meeting in the same mirror, seeing each other because they were both, like Drucker said, displaying a sense of generosity. So, a day at the TEDx event was for me, and I’m sure for others, like an oxygen mask in this unstable and difficult period. It helped me to understand more and see that opening our hearts and watching the world patiently with a benign gaze helps us to build a more balanced world, and, on a more personal level, gain our inner peace.