Today I choose to celebrate the quiet workers, the people who allow others to take credit for their accomplishments and ideas, because that’s what voluntarism really means. The people who accept that misunderstandings will happen, and spend every hour of every day working to bridge the gap between cultures, who navigate on both sides of the gulf of misunderstanding, who devote countless hours to no other end but making sure that others profit, though it profits them nothing.
[Originally published in the Vanuatu Daily Post’s Weekender Edition.]
I have to write three things today. First, I’ve got this column. Then a column discussing privacy issues in an online world. Then I have to write a farewell letter to someone who’s shared my life for the last year and a half.
My friend is only one of thousands of admirable people from nations all over the world who have devoted a part of their lives to making Vanuatu a better place. For the most part, they labour quietly, preferring to draw attention to Vanuatu’s development than to themselves.
Yesterday was International Volunteer Day, so I thought I’d take this (belated) opportunity to let you say thanks.