Essay on Volunteering Makes Us Better Leaders

Last Saturday, I was sitting peacefully at the beach. Suddenly, a cute little girl touched me with her small fingertip and whispered into my right ear, “Do you want to know something? We need to help others and cannot be a selfish person.” It hit the nail on the spot because at that time, it gave me a brilliant idea for my forthcoming English essay.  So, I have decided to write an essay on the topic ‘Volunteering Makes Us Better Leaders’. To begin with, the definition of volunteering based on Wikipedia is considered as an altruistic activity and is intended to promote charity or improve the human quality of life. As for leadership, indeed, everyone in this world is a leader. Either leader to themselves or leader to others and also themselves like our Prophet said, “Behold! Every one of you is a leader and you shall be asked about those you lead. Imam is a leader over the people and shall be asked about them; a man is a leader of the house and shall be asked about his house hold; a woman is a leader over her children and she shall be asked about them.” (Reported by Abdullah Ibn Omar in Bukhari and Muslim).

     Do you know what are the best characteristics that fit into the mould of a good leader? The main characteristics are voluntary, amiable, responsible, and patient. We need to prepare ourselves properly before becoming a leader who will control an organisation. The powerful the leader, the wonderful the leadership! Among those characteristics, I have found that voluntary is the compulsory one. From my own observation, I found that volunteering plays an important role either in the class, community, religion, and also country. It reminds me of a session in our class. All of my friends are enthusiastic in volunteering. Marvellous! When the teacher asked us to share our best experiences, our response was like, “I want! I want!” Everyone wanted to express themselves and share their experience to the whole class. This good habit is needed to facilitate and ease teachers’ work, show students’ spirit, and so on.

     Besides, Malaysia has produced numerous prominent leaders. Dr Jemilah Mahmood is one of the most renowned one. She showed her noble character, trustworthiness, and obedience by setting up the Medical Relief Society (MERCY) of Malaysia in the year 1999. This organisation has provided humanitarian assistance to beneficiaries, both in Malaysia and abroad. For instance, they sent relief teams to Turkey in response to the 1999 İzmit earthquake and responded to the survivors of the Cambodia floods in Kampong Cham. Indeed, she is one of the greatest legendary leaders that Malaysia has produced.

     Moreover, we can take lessons from David who was the president of Pepperdine University in Malibu, California in the fall of 1996. During his tenure, he had always showed his responsible leadership. Other students felt easy and comfortable with him. He involved in the charity work even though he was the leader at that time. Every weekend, he joined any club which will do volunteer work such as visiting the orphan nearby. Before going to the orphan, he and the club members were busking beside the road to collect money for charity. Even if it looks like a lowly job, but it is an enjoyable moment for him. He was singing his own song entitled, ‘The Life’ while playing his beloved guitar bought by his mother as his birthday present. He created meaningful and nice lyrics based on his life experience. Oh, so touching!

     I still remember a poem recited by my old schoolmate, Lisa, in a competition. It goes something like this:

Volunteers are a very special breed,

They're not afraid to step in when they see the need,

They're always willing to lend a hand,

To lift someone up who's sinking in quicksand,

They always have something encouraging to say,

And they manage to say it in the kindest way,

They share their skills, talents and time,

And in return, they don't ask for a dime,

So the next time you meet with some volunteers,

Shake their hands, and let them know you're happy they're here.

This poem tells us who the volunteers are and how important they are for the needy such as disaster victims, poor people, and others. Even better is when the leaders who have an obligation to lead their leadership, has the interest to involve themselves in volunteering. Why? Because a leader is like a head and his leadership is like a body. We have a brain inside our head which is located safely in our skull. So, it is the main controller of our body. The same goes to the leader. Have you already seen how important the leader is in a leadership? If the leaders have more tendency to do voluntary work, the leadership will find how responsible their leaders are. The followers will put trust highly to their leader. To be a leader one must be trustworthy. To be trustworthy, one must be truthful. Thus, it affects the prosperity and peacefulness among us.

     To sum up, based on the evidences from story, poem, and fact, I myself have found that there are many benefits if the leaders love to volunteer themselves. Even a hadith from our prophet Muhammad SAW, said : “Charity does not in any way decrease the wealth, and the servant who forgives Allah adds to his respect, and the one who shows humility Allah elevates him in the estimation (of the people).” (Reported by Muslim). The lesson from the hadith is we should not be selfish in charity because it does not lessen our wealth at all. In fact, Allah increases the blessing.

     In my thought, for all those reasons mentioned above, I believe that the voluntary work does make us better leaders. I also will try to fill and enthuse myself in volunteering because there are many positive effects than the negative effects. So, we have to sacrifice ourselves for the sake of others. That’s true leadership!