Books are powerful teaching tools, but the quest for knowledge and learning lies in life experiences. I’m not knocking education by no means, but I wish my parents had given me a chance to experience some of the opportunities I had wanted to do as a teenager.
While in a summer church camp I had an opportunity to do some volunteer work in Guatemala. My parents would not let me go, because at that time Guatemala was having a civil war and guerillas were creating havoc there. Another time a friend and I joined PDAP (Palmer Drug Abuse Program). We did not join because we needed the service ourselves, but it gave us the opportunity to help wayward teens on the street. Of course my parents freaked out and forbade me in attending any of more of their meetings. I guess they thought they would change me instead of me trying to change them.
What would I have gained from these experiences? I would have had the chance to visit and experience the culture of Guatemalans and assist the needy there. I joined PDAP, because I wanted to make a difference in another teen’s life and show them a new way off the streets. In turn I wanted to better understand what lead them there.
What does this have to do with today’s Cyber-Site post? Dosomething.org is a site that is made for teens that want to participate in volunteerism or create a program themselves. Teens have a great opportunity to provide assistance in any category that interests them. The best part is that they can get school credit for it and it looks good on a college admissions resume. When I was in school we did not get credit for volunteering, I wish we had though!
I’m hoping that my daughter has the ambition to step outside her comfort zone and do something good for her community.
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