Cashing in My Karma

Total Black: $32.41
Total Red: $228,020.61

Odd headline.  I know.  But it’s 9pm and I’m still sitting at my computer.  My day started at my computer at 9am.  I’ve spent almost all of it (minus food, shower, and bathroom visits) working on projects for the different professional organizations I’m involved with.  I don’t get paid for that work.  Presumably, we get something in return: contacts? networking opportunities? good karma?  Yeah?  Well, if so, its time to cash in on my karma.

There’s something unique about Americans.  We work for free.  Having served two years in Poland as a volunteer in the United States Peace Corps, and then studied in Germany for a year thereafter, I can say from first-hand experience that Europeans don’t really volunteer.  Some urban myths prevailed in Poland that the Peace Corps was merely a proxy for the CIA.  In fact, the Polish government insisted on paying the Peace Corps teachers a salary in addition to our Peace Corps stipend.  Poles (and Russians, from whom that myth originated, or so we were told) just had difficulty grasping the idea that people would work for free.  It doesn’t really happen in Europe.  Huge blanket statement.  I know.  And not completely accurate.  But service, whether civil or military, is mandatory in many European countries.  Upon finishing high school, young adults must enter the military or spend time working for a civil service organization.  While in Germany I met a young man who was working at the German Red Cross as part of his service requirement.  Exceptions or delays often apply to young adults entering college, but the point still holds.  Across the pond, “volunteering” is not voluntary.

I fully support mandatory service of some type: military or civil.  But that’s a separate discussion.  Here in the United States, it’s not a requirement.  We do it for free.  Often.  And a lot.  According to Independent Sector, forty-four percent of adults volunteer.  That breaks down to roughly eighty-three million American adults working for free.  Translated, that means the equivalent of over nine million full-time employees at a value of $239 billion.  Yes, with a B.  And what’s more, it’s good for us.  According to the Corporation for National and Community Service, the United States government’s clearinghouse for volunteering and related data, research shows a link between volunteering and quality of life.  Volunteering makes us healthier and happier people.

I don’t doubt it.  Generally my volunteer experiences leave me feeling that I made a difference, even if that difference was only to help clean or organize.  Actually cleaning and organizing leave me feeling really good because they give me a sense of control over an otherwise chaotic world.  But I digress.  My parents did not volunteer.  The church I attended didn’t organize youth clubs or other volunteer opportunities.  And I’m unaware of my sister ever working for free.  So I don’t know where I got it from, but since I was in high school, I’ve been volunteering.   As a sophomore, I volunteered with my church to teach a catechism class to public elementary school students.  (OK, I suppose that was actually one sort of volunteering opportunity through my church, but they are required to provide Catholic education to students in public schools.)  As a senior, I volunteered with Catholic Social Services as an AIDS buddy, a support program linking a volunteer with an HIV+ person.  Throughout high school, I served in various student clubs.  College was no different.  I got involved with the German Club, with an organization helping foreign spouses of doctoral students learn and practice English.  And then I joined the Peace Corps.  Two years of working pretty much for free.  We earned roughly $250 / month.  I won’t even mention the amount of volunteering I did while in law school.  Isn’t interning just another form of volunteering?  And then there’s recent six months working full-time at the DA’s office.

The point?  I’m dog tired of it.  Tired, tired, tired, tired, tired.  I want me some money!  Enough is enough.  I am cashing in on my karma.  I am calling Life on this promissory note.  I want a return on my investments.  And I don’t mind if I say so, but I deserve it.  I’m giving myself permission to say that.

Don’t get me wrong.  I don’t see myself ceasing volunteer work.  I suppose I’m a terminal volunteerer.  It’s just that “making a difference” doesn’t cut it any longer.  I need to get a bit of greediness.  I live in New York after all.  Got any to spare?