Being Used

One of my co-workers throughout the week kept bringing up the fact that his church had volunteered him to drive a bunch of kids in the church van to go see a lighted Christmas village and he didn't seem too happy about it. During one of our breaks he said, “I know why they chose me, it's because I'm single and they won't have to buy another ticket,” to which one of my other co-workers said “They're using you,” then I mumbled “So, it's church.”

If we stop to think about it, if we believe in any cause, secular or not, don't we expect to be used or, at least, shouldn't we? The nature of most good causes do not allow them to fend for themselves, they don't produce the the needed revue to propagate themselves, most are very dependent on volunteers. Yes, if some of them are well put together they can be self-sustaining in terms of resources and finances, but even they require a lot of time and effort; in other words, humanpower.

During my year in AmeriCorps, my group was used and we were sometimes very overworked; if you were to work out how much we got “paid” (in terms of our living stipend), based on the number of hours we worked, it was a few dollars below minimum wage. But it was for the cause of conservation, of fighting fires that could destroy property, of combating chaos in the aftermath of natural disasters. We expected to be used, we volunteered for it.

When you join a church, a group combating cancer, raising awareness of domestic abuse; if you really believe in the cause, expect to be used up, to be called upon, to invest your time and emotions, to try and rally others to your cause. Hopefully, you can also expect to be emotionally rewarded and fulfilled as well.

The church is “using you,” exactly, and I expect to be used.

P.S. My co-worker's mom is one of the chief members in charge of the childrens church, which is the real reason he was probably volunteered for the outing. Also, they paid for his dinner, which he's always a big fan of free food.