Volunteering: From Μyth to Μodern reality by Vasilis Taktikou

The first unselfish volunteer, according to the Greek myth, was Prometheus, the titan who stole the fire from the gods and gave it to the people and gave them the knowledge and the arts. Zeus, as father and leader of the gods, punished him, sending Hephaestus to crucify him in the Caucasus, holding him nailed to a rock there.

For centuries it continued. According to another myth of Greek mythology, another great volunteer, the demigod Hercules released him.

This myth has been highlighted, and is well known, the great Greek tragic poet Aeschylus, in the trilogy of Prometheus, "Prometheus solitary" and "Prometheus" and we can assume that he symbolizes that the fundamental source of knowledge is due to volunteering and selflessness that releases valuable values ​​of knowledge for man, and we can claim that at any given time this myth meets with reality.

Spirit and knowledge have a Promethean relationship with volunteering and offering. Knowledge at its source is not offered by the state, power and the market. The state can create appropriate conditions and market to multiply the product of knowledge. But solidarity and altruism are social sensitivities and visions. Thus, the knowledge of well-being is not valued in money, but is offered as a gift to society by wise men, writers, intellectuals, and this is determined by the role of intellect in every age.

Volunteering does not motivate personal gain, as the market does, but it brings in the social benefit. If the market has the leading edge in the production of material goods, the state in providence and the proper functioning of society, volunteering has to do with the creation and promotion of knowledge. Knowledge does not have the material constraints of material goods, it works like, for example, the multiplicity of a book and a message. Volunteering feeds knowledge and knowledge boosts volunteering.

Certainly, there have been historical and material limitations to the dissemination of knowledge that today do not exist with the explosion of the mass media. Today, however, there are other kinds of restrictions, such as monopolization of the media. That is why the key to the effective and organizational development of volunteering is the development of the communication of voluntary organizations and the networking among them.

From the patriotic, charitable and local volunteering that dominated the older generations, today we have gone through a multidimensional, universal, humanitarian and ecological volunteering with autonomy beyond and beyond any form of power. Thus, the "traditional" view that volunteering is a purely altruistic service tends to be overcome. Besides, it is now common to accept that, as far as volunteering is concerned in the sense of reciprocity, benefits are gained by all concerned. From this point of view, it is hardly surprising to note that volunteering offers an invaluable contribution to society. This is because there is a strong link between volunteering and responsible - an active citizen interested in public affairs, in the narrower, local sense of the term, but also in the broader, as we will see immediately below. Besides, for this reason, voluntary activity is the most tangible expression of participatory democracy. Here too, a distinction should be made between spontaneous volunteering of social sensitivity and organized volunteering of the social economy for which there must be rules and commitments from the state as well as from the organizations themselves.

There are many different types of volunteering and these generally include mutual assistance and / or self-help, charity or service to third parties, information campaigns and support actions, as well as participation and self-management

Most of the volunteer activities are usually carried out locally, with the concept of place of residence or origin, where the feeling of the unknown and the close social interaction create social relations and social cohesion, which constitute the basic means of ensuring effective participation of people in volunteer groups. For this reason, synergies, organizations and / or networks created through genuine social relations have a longer duration and effectiveness, creating real added value in all actions and especially in social capital.

On a personal level, volunteering promotes a sense of personal value, along with the sense of consistency with others, and is perhaps the most sustainable form of renewable energy. It is linked to an unselfish offer for common well-being, combining elements of free will and freedom of choice, is indeed a personal affair, a way of life, individual discipline and an indicator of civilization for societies, is perhaps the most effective way of dealing with human and social needs. Beyond that, volunteering also helps the volunteer very much since it makes him feel useful to himself and to society. The important thing is that this feeling is beyond all truth, since it takes important issues in its hands and does something to make it happen, uses its knowledge, skills and experiences for the common good, while at the same time acquiring new, enjoying and it passes pleasantly and creatively competing people who share the same values.

Official - organized volunteering is an activity that takes place through non - profit organizations or programs and is undertaken:

- With the free will of the volunteer himself

- No financial reward

- For the benefit of the community and the volunteer

- Only in places reserved for volunteers.

Principles of Volunteering

- Volunteering is always a matter of personal choice and is not mandatory

- Voluntary work is not remunerated

- Volunteering is an activity carried out only in non-profit sectors and does not substitute for paid work

- Volunteers do not take the place of paid employees nor pose a threat to the safety of paid employees

- Volunteering respects the rights, dignity and culture of others

- Volunteering promotes human rights and equality.

Regarding volunteer activity at regional, national and / or international level, more usually - but not always - involves the participation of already structured groups rather than individuals who, through group participation and action, identify themselves and acquire specific and distinct features and competences. This acquisition of competence strengthens the group's self-confidence and motivation and can make a significant contribution to obtaining a distinct identity.

Concerning volunteer activity at national level, this structured group participation can transform the relationship between citizen and state from a client-prostate relationship to a relationship in which the citizen through collective action plays an essential role in decision-making on issues that concern him/her, contributing positively to the life of the community. For many people, participation in a voluntary organization may be the only experience of genuine democratic processes, since what is usually what most people experience as "democracy" is, simply, the right to vote in any type of electoral process.

It is also worth noting, however, that although the State is in favor of involving citizens in volunteer organizations that intervene substantially in social affairs, in practice this participation is not always welcomed by the state authorities, since participatory processes are sometimes a challenge for the power of the state or the state machine. The state wants a charitable and directed volunteering, a charity, which has no opinion, does not intervene, does not judge, does not disclose and does not claim. Thus, and notwithstanding the theoretical attitudes to the contrary, often voluntary civil society organizations, which exercise substantial influence, are not only undesirable but boycotted or obstructed in their work.

* Vassilis Taktikos is director of INMECO Studies

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