Volunteerism Essay, Research Paper

The path to patriotic preservation is better enderstood be definig two key words. Volunteerism is the policy or prtaice of volunteering one’s own time or services, as for charitable or community work. Patriosm is of or like a patriot, or a person who loves, supports ans defends his o her country and its intrest. There is defintely a link between volunteerism and patriotism in that both take convivtion of heart, intellect and caring for a particular cause or idea and it is done mostly without personal or financial gain.

Volunteerism is the vehicle by wich a person can be patriotic and therefore is the path to its preservation. Again, to be patriotic, a person feels strongly enough about their country and the direction they want it to go they focus their energy and time in that pursuit above and beyond their normal daily routine. For examble, the founding of ourn country was born out ofpatriotic fervor even though at the time our forefathers did not realize that concept because the country was still still a collection of colonies under British rule. However, the colonies began taking on their own idenity and a way of doing things differently from England. People like George Washington, Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and many others volunteered their time and their considerable abilities towards the pursuit of making life of their fellow countrymen more representative to their needs and goals. In particular, let’s look at George Washington. He was asked to command the Continental Army and then after independance from Britain, was asked to be President of the new United States. He did so because he developed a patriotic sense of duty but the path to that duty was his act of volunteering, of providing service to his country and its cause of freedom even though he hoped to pursue his real love of farming his land at Mount Vernon.

Patriotism today is still alive through various acts of volunteerism. Men and women who join the armed forces volunteer their service to defend our country against others who would want to harm us. Many others who believe in our country and what it represents volunteer in hospitals, nursing homes, homeless shelters, agencies for the care of children, outreach programs and cmoounity service organizations. They do all these things out of a sense of patriotism or love of their country or community but the path to this achievement is through acts of volunteerism, which at the same time preservers the patriotic spirit.