Cheers volunteers

Lochgoilhead Snow

Another non-photography post.

I would hazard a guess that volunteers do a significant chunk of all the beneficial work being done in our communities. Beneficial that is, in terms of outcomes that directly improve the lives of others, or the environment in which they live, as opposed indirectly benefitting us by dint of working in a place, providing services, paying taxes, etc. It’s a strange thing. Whether an unpaid carer, a mountain rescue worker, or someone who takes it upon themselves to pick up litter, volunteers, generally quietly, just get on with it. They may be fortunate, like myself, to have slogged their guts out at work to retire early enough to leave just a little in the tank to give time to others. They may be trying to eke out a few precious hours from a busy work or family schedule to happily do their bit.

The early, enthusiastic days of volunteering can unfortunately, and it seems inevitably, wane, as age creeps up, along with that vaguely pernicious sense of expectation from others. Grumpy community meetings would once have been the primary stage for those seeking an audience to criticise (remember the hilarious “you have no authority Jackie Weaver” Handforth Parish Council meeting?), before hopefully being reined back by others to a more measured perspective. “You do know that these people are giving their time for free?”, “What is it that you are contributing?”, …and other such governing comments.

Poorly moderated group Facebook pages and other social media platforms have changed all that. Consequence-free, fire-and-forget, and even slanderous (or is it libellous?) comments can now be made from the comfort of a keyboard (often anonymously), followed by the inevitable pile-on, drawing the ill-informed, and self-labelled down-trodden, to post things they wouldn’t dream of saying face-to-face, for fear of being punched in the aforementioned face. Just read some of the comments on the Facebook pages of public organisations to see how hateful and rude people have become. Unsocial Media. It’s a wonder anyone bothers.

I’m certainly not peddling a “you should be grateful for what you receive” state of mind, I think I’m just mourning a loss of politeness, decency, and grown-up debate (where ‘no’ is a perfectly valid response by the way). I’m not immune of course; I’ll pile in with pithy commentary against the more powerful political leaders, but even then, I eventually press delete. If you can’t say anything nice…

So this wee blog post to my wee audience is meant really as a thank you to all the unpaid and low-paid workers who just do. Cheers volunteers 🍻.