Volunteering ... selfless or selfish?

I had a free lunch on April 30. The Gail Borden Library was honoring volunteers with a luncheon. For the second year in a row I was recognized as having volunteered the most hours, 245. It was an honor I'm not sure I deserve. Let me explain:

Although not scheduled, I volunteered as a greeter at the library later that afternoon. I like to work the same number of hours each week and had to miss last night. So while I was at the greeter's desk recently, someone came up to me and asked what day it was. The person - I don't want to identify gender - said that he/she was tired of asking a spouse. Why couldn't he/she keep track of the days? Why did days run into each other? This person had been retired a number of years. The days were usually the same.

Not for me!

I think that the major joy of retirement is that you can usually fill your days as you please. If you are lucky enough to have a pension or investments, then your activities can be divorced from income. The problem is that life can become too hedonistic and soon there are few pleasures. It's like eating too much candy all the time.

So that's why I volunteer, not only at the library but elsewhere. The days of the week stay important to me. I retain my weekends, holidays and even vacations, and have a feeling of accomplishment for contributing to society. So volunteering is not really selfless, but in actuality, very selfish. As the old advertisement used to say: "Try it, you'll like it!"

Herb Gross

Elgin